Any way to make no-bake cookies?

[stevek42]

Here's COOKED non-vegan no bake recipes:

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/no-bake-chocolate-cookies-recipe.html <-- traditional
http://ww4.bhg.com/bhg/recipe/recipedetail.jhtml?recipeId=mem6262 <-- microwave

My question is, can anyone think of a way to somewhat reproduce these in the raw diet? Maybe with oats, cocao or carob, and some other nut butter? Any way to make it hold together once refrigerated? I'd really love to build a recipe for these, but I'm not the artist that Alissa or some of you are.

[rawpriestess]

1/2 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup raw cacoa nibs, (ground into powder) or raw carob powder
2 cups dates (pitted and chopped)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 to 1/3 cup almond butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 inch vanilla bean (scraped)
3 cups oats flakes
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Place all ingredients in a food processor, blend until well blended but still chunky, drop onto wax paper, or teflex sheet, place in fridge to stiffen up.

Okay this is my version, try it and let me know what you think.

Rawpriestess

[stevek42]

Rawpriestess, that sounds GOOD. I'm gonna give it a shot as soon as I find almond milk and get my carob from Alissa's store. :)

[Rawkinlocs]

Steve, first you don't have to "find" almond milk, you can make it yourself! I think it's like 1 c. almonds (that have been soaked) and 2 c. water blended in a blender (if you want, you can add a couple of dates, dash or two of sea salt and a little vanilla for flavor) and then strain with a nutmilk bag (if you don't have one, run to a home improvement-type store such as Home Depot or Lowe's and get a nylon paint straining bag - works like a charm!

What you strain off is your "milk"

Now, you can do cookies in the dehydrator. Here are a few recipes that have been posted here, but if you do a search on here for "cookies" then you may find more!

One other thing before I post the recipes...in another thread you mentioned your dehydrator being a round model with only one sheet. Do you have the Nesco American Harvest? If so, you can go to their website (http://nesco.com) and order more accessories for it such as fruit roll trays, more mesh trays, clean-a-screens and deep trays (for taller items such as loaves, etc.)

I have the round one too and have made everything in it, including pizza!

Okay, now the cookie recipes:

Coconut Macaroons (by CAdreamer)

I was yearning for something like a cookie this morning, and created a yummy recipe. It's in the dehydrator right now, so I can't give you times...but that is really up to personal preference...dry, moist, chewy....try them several ways. It was delicious before even going into the dehydrator, so make enough to munch on too. It's enough for about 2 dozen, 1 1/2" cookies, so make a larger batch if you need to...I don't make huge quantities when experimenting.
You could probably also pat it into a larger square on a teflex sheet and cut into squares before dehydrating which soule be a time savor, but then you'd have to flip. Whatever works for you !!~

1/4 cup very finely ground flax (coffee grinder)
1/4 cup apple juice
(Mix these together and let sit for 1/2 hour)

In mixing bowl, add the following and mix well:

2 cups raw, non sweetened coconut shreds
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup very finely ground raw cashews (coffee grinder)
(This is okay as it is, but I added 3 dried pineapple slices from Trader Joe's,
chopped in Magic Bullet with 1 tbls coconut to keep it from sticking...and I added a tbls powdered stevia for a little extra sweetness)

Mix all together. Form into very loose, flat rounds (I didn't press it into a patty, but made sure everything was connected, if you can understand what I mean). They will dry well on the mesh sheet.

I think this would work well with dates, dried bananas (Trader J's has some flat bananas that are wonderful). It could be adapted in a variety of ways

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Juliano's Oatmeal Cookies from the book "RAW - the uncook book"

2 cups oat groats
3/4 cup dates
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup raw almonds coursley chopped
2 or 3 apples grated
1/2 cup raw cashews

Place oat groats in a food processor and grind until fine. If you dont have a food processor, use a blender and add a little maple syrup to help the dough turn over (I tried it, the blender will do it dry just fine). Transfer the groats to a mixing bowl and add the dates, raisins, almonds and apples and mix the batter well. Set aside. In a coffee grinder grind the chashews until they resemble a silky flour. On a mesh dehydrator sheet shape the batter. Keep in mind that the thicker you shape the cookies the longer they take to dehydrate. Dehydrate the cookies at 90 degrees until they reach your preferred texture, around 12 hours. They dont need to be crunchy all the way though.

(My notes: The recipe doesn't call for soaking the groats, but I found that if you either soak them overnight OR grind them really well in a coffee grinder, Vitamix, etc. that they are easier on the teeth! Oat groats can be kinda hard to bite into, like other grains if not soaked or ground up first! Now that I have the grain flaker, I just roll them into rolled oats now when I make oatmeal cookies! Also, when I make these cookies, I add cinnamon and vanilla and a dash or two of sea salt to make them even more like "real" cookies...but they're good the original way too. I also substitute the almonds for chopped walnuts because I've always liked walnuts in cookies rather than almonds. Pecans would probably be really good too!)

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Pixie Cookies (my own lil' name I gave them) by PixieGreen

To make raw cookie dough for ice cream, use a dash of vanilla, dash of salt, a spoonful of coconut butter, large spoonful of almond or cashew butter, spoonful of honey, dash of cinnamon. Mix this up well, it should have the consistency of SAD cookie dough before you add the flour [what would be eggs/ sugar/ butter]. This is the cookie base.

Add either a few ground almonds/ cashews OR a spoonful of coconut flakes[for macaroonie flavor]. Optional: Grind oat groats into flour as a substitute or add to nuts/ coconut to keep the cost/ fat down. Grind cacao nibs until they are flecks and stir in. It shouldn't be really thick, but enough to form into balls. If it's still too moist add more ground nuts/ coconut/ oat flour. Freeze balls until frozen. Next time you make frozen banana ice cream stir some of these bad boys in. I love it! This makes enough for one large bowl of ice cream.

Dehydrated cookies: To make oatmeal cookies add rolled oats to the cookie base then dehydrate for a few hours. For macaroons I grind rolled oats into flour and add half coconut flakes/ half oat flour then dehydrate. For chocolate cookies add rolled oats or oat flour and triple/ quadruple the amount of cacao nibs [ground well], and add more honey to balance.

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Caramel Coconut Cookies From "Living Cuisine" by Renee Underkoffler: (posted by Janine)

3 C dried shredded coconuts
1 C soaked/pitted dates
3 Tb almond butter
2 Tb honey or maple syrup
2 Tb olive oil or coconut butter
1 Tb vanilla extract
1 Tb cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of sea salt

in a food processor:
coconut, dates, almond butter, honey/maple syrup, coconut butter/olive oil, vanilla, cinn., nutmeg, sea salt

take approx. 1 1/2 half Tb of the dough and press it on a teflex sheet with the bottom of a wet drinking glass

Dehydrate for approx. 12 hours on each side. She says to dehydrate it enough that the inside is moist. This batch lasted 2 days before I ate it all.

I hope it's okay to post a recipe out of a book. This book is awesome, very user friendly and creative. On par with Alissa's, just a bit more complex.
NOTE: You might wanna check out the entire thread on these cookies as there were other variations posted and a fudge recipe I believe:
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4264

Also, because these are raw cookies to begin with - no eggs or milk or anything...you COULD very well eat these without dehydrating them! Many of us find it hard to stop eating the dough long enough to get them to the dehydrator!

You could probably shape them on a plate (flatten them or roll into balls) and refrigerate or freeze just like RawPriestess' recipe!

Happy cookie eating! :)