Valentine's day, that special day to embrace love. In our home everyday is filled with love. Still I do relish in the holiday and take the opportunity to give extra special treats, hidden notes, and love inspired meals all week long. The extra bit of JOY brightens up winter and showers us with that warmth of knowing that spring is almost here.
I am a baker at heart, born from a long line of bakers. These days in my natural way of eating I do very little baking. However, my history and family tradition of baking is cherished because it taught my to put extra special care and love into food preparation. It wasn't until I became a macro-raw foodist did I really taste and feel how very important that lesson is. I feel excitement, joy , and love overflowing when I'm preparing food for my family or friends and that can really be tasted. At times I'll have to throw together a lunch on a busy day and it just won't taste right.
Raw food desserts are super rich and decadent. They are among the best things I've ever eaten. I prepare raw desserts very rarely because they are often made mostly of raw nuts. Raw food purist argue that nuts are not truly living foods. Most raw nuts are super high in fat and omega 6's. The body functions best with a healthy ratio of omega 3's to omega 6's. Choosing walnuts, and flax oil over other nuts and oils is best to keep a healthy balance. I find that I feel best when sticking to simple fruits and greens and keeping nuts, seeds, and oils for raw food potlucks and holidays.
Today is a special day and I've indulged in creating a new cookie recipe to share my RAW LOVE! My daughter, Ellie, whipped up her favorite raw ice cream in vanilla bean adapted from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials and some dark cacao sauce topped it all off. Enjoy your day of love, but remember to spread love everyday!
Raw Love Cookies
2 c Almond Flour
1 c Cashew Flour
10 Dates made into a paste
2 tbl. raw honey (may be omitted for vegan version)
pinch sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c dry goji berries ground into a powder (topping)
Make raw nut flour by grinding the nuts in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder. Alternatively, you could use nut pulp left over from making nut milk. I like to save my pulp in the freezer or dehydrate it into a flour and store in the refrigerator. To make date paste, soak the dates overnight and blend with just enough pure water to make a smooth paste. Combine the flour and date paste in a food processor. Add the raw honey, sea salt, vanilla, and cinnamon and pulse to combine. You will have a sticky dough. Coat a bamboo board with coconut oil and flatten and smooth the dough with your hands to about 1/4" thickness. Use a heart shaped (or any other) cookie cutter on the flattened dough. Remove from the board with a coconut oiled spatula. Dip the cookie shape into a bowl of the goji berry powder to coat. This gives the cookie a pretty "sugar cookie" topping look. Place the cookies on the mesh tray of a dehydrator and dehydrate at 105 degrees for two to four hours. Less if you like a chewy cookie, longer if you like a crisp cookie. If pressed for time, the cookies are yummy still if you skip the whole cutting and dehydrating part and just roll the dough into balls right out of the food processor. To make these raw balls pretty and special roll them into the goji berry powder. Enjoy and remember to always add the love!
