Ginger & Orange Oat Cookies
My first idea was to share with you a chocolate dessert today, but unfortunately the dish I envisioned – a beautiful chocolate and toasted oatmeal mousse – didn’t really work out. Instead of a mousse, I ended up making a ganache, and a ganache is just a dessert component, not a dessert in itself. For that reason, I threw it into the freezer and decided to go on a totally different direction. In the end, I made something I was actually craving for quite a while – thin and crisp oat cookies.
Ginger and orange are ingredients that I almost always have in my fridge, and I knew beforehand how well they go together (they’re the base of a Moroccan inspired marinade I make quite often to flavour tofu). The only thing I had to do in the process of making this recipe was to taste the cookie dough a few times and adjust the amounts of both ingredients to make sure the flavours were discernible.
I’m very pleased with how the cookies turned out, they’re wonderfully spicy thanks to the ginger but also fresh and citrus-y because of the orange. Just a little note: after you take them out of the oven they’ll be soft to the touch, but after 5 minutes or so they’ll crisp up and be ready to eat. :)
Ginger & Orange Oat Cookies
Makes about 35 cookies
Dry mixture
138 g / 1 ¼ cups old fashioned rolled oats
110 g / 1 cup oat flour
50 g / ½ cup desiccated coconut
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
Wet mixture
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 ½ Tablespoons orange zest (from about 2 ½ medium sized oranges)
80 ml / 1/3 cup olive oil
185 ml / ¾ cup brown rice syrup
2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal
60 ml / ¼ cup water
In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed meal and water together. Whisk well, cover, and let it rest for about 5 minutes or until it thickens.
Mix the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining wet ingredients and the flaxseed mixture.
Pour the wet mixture over the dry and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined. Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour before using. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 180 C and line a large tray with baking paper.
After the dough is chilled, scoop out 1 tablespoon of it at a time. Wet your hands and flatten each piece of dough between your hands, until you get a cookie that is about 2 mm thick. Arrange each cookie at least 4 cm (1.6 inches) apart from each other in the prepared baking tray. They’ll spread out quite a bit.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Let them cool on a rack before eating and store them in an airtight container.
Little Energy Bites, Three Ways
The other day I was going to dinner at my brother’s and was asked to bring dessert. My first plan was to bake a cake – a carrot one – but I didn’t have much time and ended up improvising these raw truffles with the ingredients I already had at home. By now you already know that I’m the kind of cook who likes to “freestyle” in the kitchen, combining ingredients, adjusting here and there, and tasting as I go. The truffles I bring you today were made just like that, with the sort of approach I usually use when cooking savoury dishes.
Turns out, everyone at the table loved the truffles. The cashew, currant and turmeric version is inspired in one of my all-time favourite protein bars, while the one with sunflower seeds and maca powder in it is my brother’s personal favourite (he likes warmer, toasty flavours). I’m particularly happy with the hemp seed, coconut and lime combo though, because it’s fresh and exotic at the same time.
Needless to say, you don’t have to stick with the ingredients I used and should feel free to make your own combinations too. Instead of sunflower seeds, you could use toasted hazelnuts, and if you’re not a fan of maca, you could probably substitute it for a combination of spices such as ginger and/or nutmeg (although not in the same proportion). The possibilities are endless here, just have some fun mix and matching and I’m sure you’ll come up with something delicious.
Little Energy Bites, Three Ways
makes 24 truffles, 8 of each flavour
Sunflower Seed, Figs & Maca
55 g / 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
95 g / about 12 small dried figs, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Maca powder
1 Tablespoon Water
pinch of salt
cocoa powder for coating
Add the sunflower seeds to the bowl of a food processor and run the machine until they’re finely ground. Add the remaining ingredients and process once again until a paste comes together. Form 8 truffles with your hands. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder and store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before eating.
Cashew, Currants & Turmeric
78 g / ½ cup cashews
40 g / 1/3 cup currants
1 ½ Tablespoons brown rice syrup
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
zest of one orange
pinch of salt
Pulverize the cashews in a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and run the machine until a paste comes together. Shape the mixture into 8 balls.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before eating.
Hemp Seeds, Coconut & Lime
60 g / 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon raw shelled hemp seeds
2 Tablespoons brown rice syrup
5 Tablespoons dried shredded coconut, plus extra for coating
zest of one lime
pinch of salt
Combine all the ingredients in the food processor and run the machine until you get a paste-like mixture. Shape the mixture into 8 truffles – this mixture will be a softer than the other two, but the truffles will harden in the fridge. Roll the truffles into shredded coconut (I like to mix some extra lime zest with coconut). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before eating.
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