HITTING THE OATS

I'm not going to lie, ever since the holidays it's been so hard to start eating healthy again! Not only did I gain weight, but it seems to be going to all the wrong places...

In an effort to tame my oversized sweet tooth, I've been baking these cookies. They only have a few ingredients:

1 c walnuts (crushed, the smaller the better for the 'dough')
1 c rolled oats
1 c almond meal or whole wheat pastry flour (I use the almond meal leftover from my
homemade almond milk)
1/2 c or to taste carob chips (chocolate chips if you prefer)
1/4 coconut palm sugar or more to taste (trying to keep the calories low)
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 c water
pinch of salt

Steps:
Bring sugar to boil in 1/2 c water. Mix in vanilla, coconut oil, and salt.

Mix all other ingredients. Mix in sugar mix.

Scoop onto cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Bake for 8 to 10 min - longer if used wet almond meal. The cookies should start to brown and the tips look dry.

If your sugar mix is hot when you mix it in with the dry ingredients, it might melt the carob chips (this creates a chocolate dough equally good). So wait until it cools if you want your chips intact.

The mixture will not hold together too well as it's missing all the wonderful fattening stuff that would create a regular dough. Feel free to add more flour and water until the mixture is more manageable. However, add little by little.

These cookies aren't necessarily super sweet, but they help me from reaching for the box of Oreos I'd love to stuff in my mouth.

And of course, I enjoy them with a cold glass of homemade almond milk.