The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Coconut-Cacao Cookies

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So due to this frigid January, my oven is getting a serious workout. You’d think the three batches of cornbread I made last week would have been enough to slow the baking roll, but apparently I can’t help whipping up cookies, biscuits, and blini rolls left and right. Have I been procastibaking? I’d like to say no, but that could just be denial.  (And yet, who’s to say that using up a little over a tablespoon of the two bags of cacao nibs I found in the cabinet recently isn’t the most productive use of my time?)

Speaking of cacao nibs, those nutrient-packed, antioxidant-rich morsels are just part of what makes this cookie perfect for an energy-boosting snack. High in protein and fiber – think rolled oats, almond flour, flax, and quinoa – eating just one is a filling and delicious way to fuel up while out and about. And with no refined sugar, you don’t have to feel too bad for eating more than one, should you decide to. The batter is super easy and can be made in one bowl (plus a small pot for melting the butter) and there is no shaping required  – simply drop them onto your sheet trays and they’ll be good to go. So, recovering procrastibakers: don’t worry. This recipe won’t keep you off task for long and may actually prove beneficial for task-accomplishment, given the cognition-boosting properties of the cacao nibs. (Uh oh, is justification/rationalization using half-read scholarly articles  an impediment to recovery?) Meh, who cares, go make some cookies!

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Quick & Dirty Coconut Chutney

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Let me just say right off the bat that this is not a traditional coconut chutney recipe. For starters, instead of using fresh coconut that you then have to chop or grate before grinding to a paste, I use shredded, dried coconut softened in boiling water. There is also no tempering oil – I just add a little chili, cilantro, and lime juice and away we go!

The result? A surprisingly close approximation to the coconut chutney you might be used to eating. It can certainly be served immediately; however, if you want it to more closely resemble a chutney made with fresh coconut, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The chutney will absorb more liquid and the texture will be closer to fresh. Of course, if you go this route, you may need to add some extra lime juice the next morning as acid tends to mellow in the fridge. So, if this happens, just remember the words of Harry Nilsson.

Now, you may not want to DRINK this coconut chutney a la Nilsson, but you will want to dollop it on all manner of dishes. It is wonderful on Indian-spiced potatoes, dals (Indian lentil stews), or spicy vegetables. Try it on these buckwheat kati rolls, chickpea cakes, cauliflower steaks, or with this lovely mung bean salad.  And vegans – wherever you might crave raita, try this instead.

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Salty Oat Coffeeshop Cookies

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Have you ever been to Teaism? Whenever I find myself in DC, I normally make it a priority to stop in at one of their three locations. It’s a cute, exceedingly popular tea house with an extensive tea menu and Asian small bites. I don’t often eat there – just chill and drink tea – but on my last visit, I noticed an enticing menu item: salty oat cookies! Sadly, they were not gluten-free, so I had to content myself with buying one for my husband and asking him detailed questions about it.

Fast forward a few months and a late-night cookie craving hits. When this happens, I’m often torn: do I measure so I have a potential blog recipe in the making or do I just throw stuff in a bowl and try to recreate it later? I opted for the throw-stuff-in-a-bowl option, since I knew that measuring would surely increase the amount of waiting time until my my cookie craving – which was increasing in urgency – was quenched.

As is often the case when I forgo measuring altogether, the cookies came out amazing. Like mind-blowingly good. They were soft and chewy when they first came out, filled with hearty oats, creamy peanut butter, and quinoa flakes with just the right amount of flour to hold them together. They were also the perfect sweet and salty combo, buttery and delicious. And as they cooled down, they got even better: developing a lovely crunch on the outside. I couldn’t stop eating them!

Now, when I tried to recreate these cookies a few days later – using actual measuring devices – they weren’t quite the same. They were, however, quite delicious. And coincidentally, they were also very reminiscent of how my husband had described the salty oat cookie at Teaism, potentially minus the peanut butter. In short, these taste like the perfect coffeeshop cookie: hearty and delicious, lovely with or without a cup of tea or coffee. They are packed with oats and quinoa flakes, salted butter, creamy peanut butter, toasted coconut, and chocolate chips. And they seem to get even better as the days go by – keep them at room temperature in a ziplock bag and enjoy having the perfect snack on hand whenever a craving strikes. I even made an ice-cream cookie sandwich with them using homemade ginger ice-cream (recipe coming soon!) which was absolutely divine.  If anyone has actually had the salty oat cookie at Teaism, I’d be very interested to hear whether this is, in fact, similar. Please let me know in the comments!

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Raw Hamantaschen Cookies (Sugar-Free, Grain-Free, and Vegan!)

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Food blogging has definitely made me a lot more aware of the plethora of special occasions that seem to pop up almost every other week! Somehow, I would feel remiss if I didn’t celebrate at least a few of them with a delicious special-occasion-appropriate recipe.

After the Super Bowl, for which I created this delicious superfood bowl, I was thinking the next special occasion recipe would be a gluten-free matzoh ball soup for Passover. Yup, I had completely forgotten about Valentine’s Day (luckily I squeaked by with these amazing grain-free sandwich cookies), St. Patty’s Day (last week’s Irish Flag Skillet), and Purim, which brings me to today. Who knew there were so many holidays in late winter/early spring? And I’m not even counting those of the “national cookie day” variety.

Anyway, the Jewish holiday of Purim begins tonight. Growing up, this holiday was always one of my favorites – it involved the telling of the Purim story (often re-enacted in a play) and the vanquishing of the story’s villain, Haman. It also involved cookie making and cookie eating, probably a big part of why this holiday is such a big hit with kids (that and the obligatory noise making whenever the name of the villain is mentioned during the Purim story!)

Hamantaschen cookies, pictured above, get their name and shape from said villain, who was reputed to wear a three-cornered hat. Growing up, my family would always make these cookies and it took forever! First, we’d have to make the dough. Then, we’d have to roll it up into logs, wrap it, and freeze it. Next, we’d have to let it soften slightly. Then, we’d have to form the cookies, which was not an easy process. It didn’t help that the dough had a severe Goldilocks complex – it was always either too cold or too warm to work with! We were constantly refreezing, resoftening, etc. And, to add insult to injury, the dough itself wasn’t even that great once it was baked into cookie form. Hamantaschen are definitely all about the filling.

Jam, poppy seeds, nuts, apricots…so many delicious fillings! The favorite, though, was always the date filling that my mother made. In fact, never mind the cookies –  we were happy eating the filling by the spoonful!

That’s why I’m so excited about the raw hamantaschen I created this year. The cookies themselves are made out of traditional filling ingredients like dates, coconut, and nuts, which in my opinion is an improvement in taste over commonly made hamantaschen doughs. They are also sooo much quicker and easier to make! There is no dough rolling, freezing, or softening. The dough comes together in the food processor. And the whole process (including measuring, pitting the dates, shaping the cookies, etc.) takes about 15 minutes. The best part? These cookies are gluten-free, fruit-sweetened, grain-free, raw, and vegan! How’s that for some Purim love?

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Triple-C Slaw

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For all you Sesame Street fans out there (best children’s show ever!), this post is brought to you by the letter C. Why? Because Cabbage, Carrots, and Coconut happen to make the perfect slaw.  And it’s pleasantly Crunchy. Add in some Cilantro, and you could even call this Quadruple-C Slaw. Cilantro begins with a soft  C, while Cabbage, Carrots, and Coconut all begin with hard  C‘s. But what about the raisins? They don’t belong here! Try as you might, you won’t find a soft  C or a hard  C anywhere in that seven-letter word. Ah, but the addition of raisins to this slaw will Caress your palate and leave you feeling quite Content.  So you see, the word raisins gives us two more beautiful C words!

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