MCLV Mange: Cookie Monster

When I saw the delicious looking Super Charge Me cookies on Une Vie Saine a few weeks ago I knew that they would soon make their way into my life. The original recipe that Gabriela used was from Dreena Burton‘s Eat, Drink & Be Vegan – like these cookies that I made last year.

Oddly enough, a few days later, before I got a chance to make these, I stumbled on a recipe for Gluten-Free Kitchen Sink Cookies on FitSugar that were derived from the Une Vie Saine’s recipe. Small world!

What I love about these cookies is that not only are they simple, they’re chalk full of tasty, healthy ingredients like flax seeds, almond butter, gluten-free oats and unsweetened coconut. No eggs or butter or cups of oil to pack them with fat and calories like some other cookie recipes out there (or * gasp * store-bought cookies).

And with two cookie occasions coming up – a 3 year old’s birthday and a thank you for a colleague – I finally got around to making a couple batches of these cookies last week. Arianna and I happily puttered around my kitchen pulling various ingredients out of cupboards to use as the “mix-ins” in the different batches.

We ended up making three different, but not terribly distinct, batches. The first was closest to the original recipe with almond butter, raw cacao nibs, and almond chunks. For the second I switched from basic all-purpose gluten-free flour to almond flour and from maple syrup as the sweetener to brown rice syrup. Then I added walnuts, carob chips and more coconut flakes.

The final batch was based on the kitchen sink recipe that I found on FitSugar and without the oats the cookies unfortunately flattened out in the oven. Not. Pretty. They were quite tasty though – the dried cherries were an inspired choice if I do say so myself – so my boyfriend and I took care of them in private. 🙂

I highly recommend trying out this recipe. While they may not exactly be guilt-free, they are cookies after all, they’re a much healthier alternative if you’re already planning to make cookies or are in the mood for a sweet treat.