I overdid it with kale on Thanksgiving. Our T-Day menu included kale fritatta for brunch and a kale salad for dinner. During the bestover weekend that followed, I probably ate kale at least 8 times.
Days later, looking at the sad remains of a fresh bunch of kale from our farmer's market, I was certain that there was nothing I'd like to eat less than that kale. However, I felt a little guilty about the prospect of letting it waste.
Then I remembered Sarah invited me to participate in The Seasonal Diet's online holiday cookie exchange, another thing I was feeling guilty about because I really wanted to do it but I was so afraid that my cookie recipe would be terrible. (I've never created a cookie recipe before. I also tend to burn cookies.) I feared I would somehow single-handedly destroy my friends' business and ruin my reputation.
After hearing myself out, I reasoned that that is totally improbable. I decided to confront my fears and get over feeling guilty by not continuing the things I was feeling guilty about-- wasting food and being a flake.
And thus the Kale Chocolate Chip Courage Cookie was born! This cookie is delicious for all the reasons sneaking kale into a chocolate smoothie is delicious. (After conceiving the recipe, I checked with Fifty Shades of Kale cookbook to see if kale and chocolate cookies was a real thing and sure enough it was in there. I think my cookie recipe is better, but it's nice to know this kind of treat is tasty to people besides myself and could make it into a published book.)
My husband, who doesn't like weird food combos said, "These are pretty good. You don't really taste the kale." Then continued stuffing his face. That means they're a winner!
These cookies are vegan and gluten-free. They're also free of processed sugar besides that in the chocolate chips.
Read on for the recipe. I hope you'll find the courage to make these unexpected treats.
Kale Coconut Chocolate Chip Courage Cookies
Kale Coconut Chocolate Chip Courage Cookies [Vegan + Gluten-Free]
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 12 min
Total Time: 42 min
Cook Time: 12 min
Total Time: 42 min
Serves: 18
Ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup old fashioned oats uncooked (get gluten-free oats if that's important for you)
- 1⁄2 cup raw almonds (almond flour can work too)
- 1 tsp baking powder (optional, I didn't include this.)
- 1⁄4 tsp salt
- 1⁄8 tsp cinnamon
- 1⁄2 cup kale leaves without stalk (Measure is based on the leaves pressed into a cup.)
- 1⁄3 cup dried fruit (I used combo the last raisins in our apartment and a few prunes.)
- 2 T coconut oil
- 1 T almond butter
- 1 flax egg (1 T flax seed meal + 3 T water: Whisk until foamy. Let sit for 15 minutes.)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1⁄3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1⁄4 cup dried, shredded unsweetened coconut
- extra coconut and coarse salt to sprinkle over cookies
Directions
- In Vitamix high speed blender, blend oats, almonds, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon into a flour by going up to 5 speed. You can also pulse them in a powerful food processor.
- Add kale, dried fruit, coconut oil, and almond butter to dry ingredients in the pitcher (or food processor bowl).
- Whisk vanilla into flax egg, then add the mixture to the pitcher (or food processor bowl).
- Blend, going up to high gradually (if your machine has speeds). Use tamper when you hear it make a high pitched noise. To put it simply, you want everything to mix together without becoming liquid. Keep in mind you want a ball of cookie dough not a smoothie or pesto. (It's sort of like making energy bars.)
- Fold in chocolate chips and shredded coconut.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Use a tablespoon to scoop out little uniform sized balls of cookies. Drop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle shredded coconut and grind some salt (or sprinkle coarse ground salt) onto the cookie tops.
- Press cookies down with fork. This is the secret to cute perfectly round cookies!
- Pop into oven and bake for 12 minutes.
- Slide cookies while they're still on the parchment paper onto cooling rack. Enjoy them when they're finally not too hot to give you a greedy burn (about 5 minutes).
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Olivia Lovejoy is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.
