I made these caraway macaroons cookies for a class I taught at Whole Foods. They were a hit! Caraway and coconut are a tasty combination, they pair well together. The ground caraway seeds not only offer a delicious and unexpected flavor to these macaroons, they also offers nice color specs of light olive green to the creamy white shredded coconut. The recipe calls for dehydrating these cookies, but you can simply shape and serve – either way is good.

Caraway Macaroons

Enjoy these flavorful cookies with a cup of your favorite tea.

Combine the ingredients
Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Optional: place the bowl with macaroon mix in the refrigerator to chill at least one hour.

Shape the macaroons
Using a measuring spoon scoop out about 1 tablespoon of mixture, for cookies into rounds, or a shape of your choice. Place the cookies on the dehydrator tray and place in the dehydrator.

Dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 115 degrees.

* Whole Foods carries coconut flour.

Once upon a time when I was about 8 years old I remember I didn’t care for chocolate, especially chocolate chip cookies. Imagine the shock of my friend’s mother who pulled out a batch of piping hot chocolate chips cookies only for me to refuse them. I’m sure she thought I was a strange child.

I made up for lost chocolate chip cookie eating time later in my teens years. No one had to twist my arm to eat them or other chocolate goodies. And, after I indulged, I became a balanced chocolate lover: I didn’t overindulge [ok sometimes] and I didn’t deprived myself [certainly not].

The crisp fall weather and the anticipated fun and festivities of the approaching holiday season puts me in a state of cookie nostalgia. I want cookies! Lots of them. In the coming days, weeks, and months, the dehydrator will get serious use churning out batches yummy treats – like this one.

Cacao Nib Carob Cookies

This recipe calls for ground *aat groats: whole grain oat kernels with the hull removed. You can find organic oat groats at health food stores or online.

Combine the ingredients
Place all ingredients in a food processor. Process until mixture forms into a ball.

Shape the cookies
Take 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it between the palms of your hands to form into rounds. Lightly coat a cutting board with coconut flour and place rounds on cutting board. Use the bottom of a small glass to press each round into flat discs or use the palm of your hand to flatten dough. Use a spatula to gently lift dough from cutting board and transfer to a dehydrator tray.

Dehydrator the cookies
Place the tray of cookies in the dehydrator. Turn cookies midway through dehydrating. Dehydrate 4-5 hours for softer cookies; 6-7 hours for crispier cookies.

Yield 16 cookies

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From the archives :: Text and recipe originally posted on Natural Living Cuisine

Yesterday, one of the father’s day gifts I presented to my father were these homemade dehydrated raw mulberry jam cookies, along with a small basket of just-off-the-tree-that-morning handpicked mulberries. He loved them both but it seemed he especially enjoyed the cookies. He ate about 5 cookies – one after the other. Everyone else present (my sisters, my husband, and friends) enjoyed them too.

I was pleased to get positive feedback, especially since none of my unsuspecting taste testers are into raw foods, though one person is vegan. Everyone was curious about what the ingredients were and how I made these cookies. Everyone was intrigued and I felt like I was giving my family and friends a brief on raw food cookie prep. We also talked about what type of drink would go well with these cookies and we all agreed one good choose would be a nice cup of tea.

Mulberry Jam Cookies

The thought of cookies and tea swirled in my mind, so I decided I would enjoy the last two cookies with a cup of warm tea. I generally drink my tea straight, without added sweetener, but I deviated from the normal today. I read that in Iran they use dried mulberries as a sweetener for black tea. They drink a bit of tea and then eat some dried mulberries to sweeten the mouth. Of course I had to try this but I used fresh mulberries.

The trio of warm herbal tea, fresh mulberries and those yummy mulberry jam cookies was delicious and would be a nice treat to serve guests. These like most cookies would go well with nut or seed milks and fruity beverages too.

Mulberry Jam Cookies

If fresh mulberries are available you could use dried mulberries, just soak them in to rehydrate. You might like to try other berries [raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry] as filling possibilities, or one of these fruit fillings [peach, apricot, apple, or banana].

Combine the ingredients
Grind raw buckwheat groats and raw almonds to a flour in a coffee grinder. Add the ground buckwheat groats and raw almonds to a food processor. If using coarse sea salt, grind it in a coffee grinder and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times to mix the flour and salt. Add the remaining ingredients – agave, fresh lime juice and organic vanilla extract. Process until the mixture forms into a ball.

Make the filling
Place fresh mulberries in a food processor and process until well mixed.

Shape the cookies
Remove the dough from the food processor bowl and place on a clean cutting board or flat surface. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about ½ inch thick. Using a cookie cutter or the mouth of a round jar, press into dough to form cookies. Peel away excess dough. Press down on the center of each cookie to form an indentation then fill with the mulberries jam. Use a spatula to lift the cookies from the surface and place on a dehydrator tray.

Dehydrate 4 hours or to desired texture.

Yields 20 2-inch round cookies

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A recipe from Raw Epicurean Cookies

Figuring out how to make a raw version of Marizpan-flavored Italian macaroon cookies was easier than I expected. The taste and texture of these cookies is a close match to its baked counterpart, at least according to my nostalgic memory.

Almond Paste

Using a food processor, grind almonds into a powder. Add ½ cup agave and 1 teaspoon almond extract [adjust more or less to taste], and process into a paste. Knead the mixture a bit using a mortar and pestle or by hand.

Yields 1 ¼ cup almond paste

Amaretti Con Pignoli Macaroons [Italian Pine Nut Cookies]

Combine the ingredients

In a food processor, process 1/4-cup pine nuts and sea salt into a fine meal like consistency. Add almond paste and agave, process into a smooth paste. Using a rubber spatula, scrape out dough from the food processor bowl and transfer to a bowl or container. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hours.

Shape the cookies

Scoop out about a tablespoon of cookie dough and roll the dough between the palms of your hands to form a round ball. Place macaroons on a cutting board, you should have about 18 macaroons. Take reserved pine nuts and lightly yet with firm pressure; press 6-8 pine nuts into each macaroon while simultaneously flattening it a bit. Use a spatula to gently lift macaroons from the cutting board and place on the dehydrator tray. Place in dehydrator. Remember to turn the macaroons midway through dehydrating.

Dehydrate at 115 for 6 hours.

Yield 18 macaroons

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Any time of year is a great time to make a delicious batch of cookies. Going along with the spirit of the season, I shaped these cookies into mini ghosts, mummies, and dancing skeletons using the fun candy molds my sister collects. These spooktacular cookies are fun, festive, easy to make, and a great project for kids.

If ghouls and ghosts aren’t your thing, you can use this recipe to make edible foliage, trees, snowpersons, candy canes, shape this macaroon mixture into any form you can dream up.

Once the cookies are made, the option of decorating them is open to ones imagination. I dabbed on a simple raw chocolate sauce to create eyes and a mouth. You could use just about anything edible for the eyes, mouth and make other features too. Be inventive, be creative and have fun with it.

Spooktacular Macaroon Cookies

Most macaroon recipes call for vanilla extract. Please note that using vanilla extract will tint the mixture a shade of pale yellow, which is a great color for the mummy and skeleton cookies. If you are aiming for a creamy white color, omit vanilla extract.

Place all ingredients in a food processor. Process about 30 seconds or until the ingredients begin to stick together.

Form the cookies into desired shapes. If using a mold, press the macaroon mixture tightly into the mold. Place the mold in the freeze for 20 minutes to make the cookies firm enough to pop out from the mold with ease. Alternatively, you can use a cookies cutter or free-form shapes with your hands.

Place the cookies on a dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for 1-2 hours, or more depending on the size and thickness of the cookies.

Yields 3 cups macaroon mixture

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When fellow raw vegan lifestyle advocate Kristen agreed to answer some of my questions about food and a raw vegan lifestyle, I was thrilled!

Kristen is a delightful, energetic lady who takes her health seriously. She is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and has an impressive list of accomplishments and contributions to the raw community. She is a raw vegan chef and consultant, food writer, author of raw vegan recipe and lifestyle ebooks, runs a popular blog, and has a website where you can find out about upcoming classes and more.

I extend a warm welcome to Kristen, as first guest for “People”. She shares with us some fun information about herself, her thoughts on embracing a raw vegan lifestyle and one of her fantastic recipes.

Enjoy the Interview…

Q: What lead you into the world of raw food or when did you first discover raw food?
A: Over six years ago, I started eating a vegan diet after reading the books Diet For A New America and The Food Revolution by John Robbins. Those books are life changing! Then, while searching for nutritious, high-energy vegan recipes in the cookbook section of Whole Foods Market (3-4 years ago), I stumbled upon a raw book of recipes. I bought it and went home where I read it cover to cover in one sitting, practically salivating at all of the pictures. Afterwards, I hopped online to research more about raw. After reading about the many benefits of eating fresh whole foods, I was hooked on making it a fundamental part of my lifestyle.

Q: What do you find is the biggest benefit of embracing a raw vegan lifestyle?
A: The pure, high energy and light feeling that is experienced mentally, physically and even spiritually. Having my diet mainly consist of fresh, whole, unprocessed plants is life changing on so many levels. To be blunt, I feel pretty damn cool!

Q: What do you love most about it?
A: I’ve been living a vegan lifestyle for over six years. I love it most because of the ethical perspective. My passion and mission is to save as many animals as I can from harm, slaughter and unfair treatment. And, when you understand the health and environmental impact a vegan lifestyle has on people and the earth, it’s a no-brainer.

Q: What are you most proud of as a raw vegan foodist?
A: Well, I’m most proud of the impact my overall vegan diet has on animals, health and the environment. As an organic raw vegan foodist, it’s taking the health aspect to a higher level. That experience, dedication, and discipline is something of which to be proud. Knowing that I’m filling my body with tons and tons of phytonutrients on a daily basis, as well as enzymes, and easily digested food is, well, to be blunt again (LOL), pretty bad-ass!

When someone turns to raw, it usually means they’ve done a lot of research about the lifestyle because it’s not immediately recognized in the media or medical circles much, or even well known for that matter. That means that I’m very informed, and that is something of which to be extremely proud.

Q: Funniest/Worst Un-cooking Disaster(s)?
A: There was a time when I was making a batch of my Chew Bolder Boulder Granola for a special gathering. I made it ahead of time because it needed to be dehydrated for many hours. Well, I was all out of anything glass to store it in after it was made, so I resorted to storing it in a plastic container, which I pretty much never use due to environmental and health concerns. As some of your readers might know, plastic storage containers can take on the smell of the last dish soap you used to clean it. After letting the granola sit in the plastic container for over a day, it absorbed the soapy smell from the container. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I was at the special gathering! So, I improvised and made up a quick batch of the same recipe without dehydrating it since I was clearly out of time and served it like that. The good news is that it was DELICIOUS!!! So, I now have two great
recipes… one as a granola recipe and the other as a porridge recipe!

Q: What fruits or vegetables are your favorites?
A: This is a fun question. My favorite fruits and vegetables list is huge because there is truly not much that I don’t enjoy or find great value in, but I’ll list a few of my very top picks! Like… if I were on a deserted island and could only have a few items of fresh produce, what would they be?

So, based on pure enjoyment and bliss only, and not necessarily from nutritional value (or you’d see lots of greens in this list like kale, broccoli, etc) although these picks are filled with nutrition, the fruits and veggies that I really love and could eat day after day without tiring of them would be: watermelon, papaya, cucumbers, bananas, avocado, carrots, coconut, green beans, peaches, sugar snap peas, and sprouts.

Q: Are there any fruits or vegetables you’d be happy to do without?
A: It’s pretty safe to say that I rarely (like never) eat kohlrabi or cauliflower.

Q: Are there things you eat that you know you shouldn’t?
A: I believe in balance and not stressing. In my opinion, to stress about enjoying something once in a while, that might not be the healthiest option, is worse for your body than the food itself.

Q: If you could be or do anything else – what?
A: I hope to be a mom someday soon :)

Q: What one word would you use to describe yourself?
A: Spirited.

Q: What’s the one thing about you few people know?
A: I have a habit of leaving cupboard doors and drawers open. Oops.

Q: What have you accomplished that makes you most proud?
A: First and foremost, saving as many animals from slaughter and harmful treatment by eating vegan and helping others to live the same lifestyle. Additionally, I’m proud of how environmentally friendly my lifestyle is and the decisions I make to help preserve the earth.

Q: What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
A: As far as gadgets go, (even though I don’t use it that often) I love my Benriner Turning Slicer for making vegetable pasta. As far as overall kitchen equipment, I’d have to say my Blendtec blender and my juicer are my favorites. I use both of those on a daily basis and I can’t imagine my life without them. They’re instrumental in helping me achieve optimal health.

Q: Your favorite Raw Restaurant?
A: You really want me to name one? If I must, then it’s probably the raw café at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in Fort Bragg, CA! It is so good! And, I also love Matt Amsden’s Rawvolution (great food) and Juliano’s Raw (great food and atmosphere) in Santa Monica, CA and Café Gratitude (great food and atmosphere) in San Francisco, CA.

Q: Do you have a signature recipe?
A: I have quite a few – haha – from cookies to soup to veg pasta dishes… maybe most notably is my Heavenly Cookie Recipe.

Heavenly Cookies

Yield approximately 10 cookie balls

These cookies will be all the rage with your family and friends. They’re easy to make (no equipment needed!) so you’ll want to make extras. Trust me!

Stir everything together in a bowl with a spoon (large bowl and spoon if you’re making a double or triple batch). Then, take a moment and mash it together with your hands. Yes, it’s sticky and gooey, but it’s fun and you still have to roll them so you’ll be getting sticky and gooey anyway. Using a 1-tablespoon measured amount of cookie batter, roll them into balls. Store these in the refrigerator or freezer.

Fun Variations:
~Stir in 1 tablespoon of raw chocolate powder or raw carob powder
~Roll them in dried, unsweetened coconut or ground nuts

This interview launches a new feature on this blog “People” and to celebrate, I’m offering a copy of one of Kristen’s ebooks to one lucky winner. To enter to win, simply leave a comment with an answer to the following question:
If you were a vegetable, what one would you be, and why?.

On Monday, September 22nd, I will use a random number generator to pick the lucky winner. The winner’s name will be announced in the right sidebar, under a special heading (which isn’t up yet) called “Lucky Winner”.

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This cookie recipe is one of my favorites from Raw Epicurean Cookies – 20 Raw Vegan Cookie Recipes. These cookies are perfect little raw bit-sized sweet treats that are quick and easy to make.

Brazil Nut Truffle Cookies

When a recipe calls for dried fruits, unless I dry the fruit myself, I use a brand that is organic and unsulfured. If you do not have dried apricots, other dried fruits like blueberries, pears, papaya or pineapple, would make great stand-ins.

Combine the ingredients
Place all ingredients in a food process and process until the dough turns into a ball.

Shape the truffle cookies
Scoop out a spoonful of dough and shape into round balls.

Coating the cookies
Start an assembly line from left and right – line up the truffle cookies, then a bowl or cup with enough agave to coat truffle cookies, a small bowl/cup with coconut flakes or chopped brazil nuts, and then a clean plate.

Work from left to right – take one truffle cookie with your left hand and dip in agave, then drop into the coconut or brazil nuts, and with your right hand roll truffle cookies in coconut/brazil nuts and place on plate.

Yield 20 truffle cookies

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I’m happy and excited to announce that my first collection of raw vegan cookies is now available in an ebook.

Raw Epicurean Cookies – 20 Raw Vegan Cookie Recipes.

Each recipe has a full color photograph.

The cookies recipes in this ebook are raw vegan versions of some traditional baked cookie recipes as well as some novel approaches to healthy nutritious treats.

For more information and to purchase this ebook, click here.