Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Hey guys! I’m so excited because it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow!! And so to celebrate Christmas Eve Eve, we’ve got to have some more cookies! If you thought I could let a holiday season go by without making any sort of peanut butter recipe, then you would be mistaken. Peanut butter is still one of my favourite things on the planet, and so I had to make a delicious cookie using it!

I was inspired by the Kraft peanut butter cookie recipe, which I make a lot for my family. It’s super simple, using only peanut butter, sugar, and an egg, but I wanted to make it a bit healthier, and also add a super fun and delicious surprise inside! So I started by mixing together some oat flour, natural peanut butter, an egg, and some maple syrup. Natural peanut butter is one of my best discoveries over the past few years- you get all of the pure, peanut flavour without any added hydrogenated oils, sugar, or maltodextrin! If you haven’t already, make the switch because it’s definitely worth it:) Oat flour is another thing that’s great to have on hand; it’s just ground up oats. I keep a little bit in a small bag so it’s ready to use in speedy recipes like this!

Mixed up together, the ingredients make a nice dough that is easily rolled up into balls. This is where the surprise comes in! I stuck a frozen blueberry in each dough ball and then covered it with dough, flattening the whole thing a bit with my hand. The blueberry gets nice and melty and gooey in the oven, making for a super tasty centre and sort of a peanut butter and jam combo. The cookie itself is delicious as well! And they only bake for about 15 minutes, so they’re the perfect last-minute Christmas treat, either for Christmas day, or maybe after all the business is over and you want to relax with a peanut-buttery snack.

Enjoy these simple and tasty cookies!!:)

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Serves: Makes 9 Cookies

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup creamy, unsalted natural peanut butter
  • 2/3 cup oat flour
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 egg
  • 9 frozen blueberries

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix together the peanut butter, oat flour, maple syrup and egg in a medium sized bowl.
  3. Take a tablespoon sized amount of dough and roll it into a ball. Place a frozen blueberry in the centre, then roll again so that the blueberry is completely covered by dough. Put the ball of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet, and flatten slightly using your fingers. Repeat until you have 9 cookies on the sheet.
  4. Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom.
  5. Cool completely and enjoy!

Have an amazing Christmas everybody! I’ll have a recipe coming oat on Christmas Day so make sure you check it out if you want a fun snack to make with your family. I hope you all spend time with loved ones and have a great holiday:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)))

Chocolate Tahini Snowballs

Hey guys! There’s only a week until Christmas time and I’m so ready! I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to wrap my gifts and make them all pretty and it just brings me joy. And you know what else brings me joy? These Chocolate Tahini Snowballs!! They’re super cute and are a great addition to your spread of holiday baking.

I think that bite-sized desserts are honestly the best, because how else are you going to sample all those delicious holiday treats? These Snowballs are the perfect size and are absolutely stunning. They’re rolled in coconut just before baking to give that snowball effect, but the coconut adds so much to the flavour and texture as well. So yum! When you pick up these snowballs, they feel pretty hefty, and so it seems like they’re going to be dense and dry. But when you bite into them you get a warm, fudgy inside that is to die for! The tahini gives such a nice rich and nutty flavour, contrasting the chocolate perfectly. And these little bundles of joy deliver all this while being vegan, oil free, and refined sugar free!

I love how simple these are to make too:)) I started by mixing all of the ingredients together in a big bowl, and then rolling out little balls, covering them with coconut, and baking them for just fifteen minutes!! The recipe can easily be doubled if you want double the chocolate-y deliciousness, and why wouldn’t you? So yeah, these are amazing if you need a festive recipe in a pinch, or are just looking for a quick and healthy dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth. They would be great next to some of my Ginger Oat Cookies– just sayin.

I hop you enjoy these bite-sized holiday treats! They’re so fun to make and to eat:))

Chocolate Tahini Snowballs

Serves: Makes about 10 Snowballs

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup oat flour (blended oats)
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used organic)
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp almond milk
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix all of the ingredients, except for the coconut, together in a large bowl.
  3. Scoop out tablespoon fulls of the mixture and roll into balls using your hands.
  4. Dump the coconut onto a small plate, and roll the balls around in it until they are completely covered.
  5. Place the snowballs on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven, let cool and enjoy!!

Make sure you come back for more delicious holiday recipes next week!!!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))))

Ginger Oat Cookies

It’s December, which means it’s time for the holiday baking to begin! I have yet to decorate my room which is kind of sad but last night I baked up some delicious cookies! Baking cookies is so fun and I haven’t done it in a while. I love cutting them out, and decorating them is just so relaxing! These Ginger Oat Cookies are made in one bowl and baked for 15 minutes so that you can get to icing them (my favourite part) in a snap.

I used so many tasty ingredients in this recipe! We’ve got ground walnuts, oat flour, maple syrup, and of course lots of ginger. The result is a golden-brown cookie that is deliciously crumbly and full of oat-y, Christmas-y flavour. And did I mention the chocolate icing?!!!??? It’s probably the easiest icing you’ll ever make- it only consists of cocoa powder, maple syrup, and almond milk. And it’s SO rich and delish! I piped it on to my little ginger-oat men (that’s what I’m calling them lol) and gave them cute faces and outfits:) You can adjust the amount of milk you add to it to make it thicker or thinner, depending if you want to spread it on like frosting, pipe on some details, or flood the whole surface. The chocolate goes so nicely with the warm spices in the cookie.

To start make these festive beauties, I simply mixed together all of my ingredients in a big bowl until it came together to form a nice dough; then I rolled it out, cut out my cookies, and baked them up. Super quick and easy! I cut my cookies into the shape of gingerbread men, but feel free to use any fun holiday-themed cutters:)

I love how healthy these cookies are too. They’re vegan, refined sugar free, and can easily be made gluten free if you use gluten free oats. The oat flour and ground walnuts can either be bought or easily made by throwing either oats or walnuts into a blender, which is what I did. The holidays are definitely about treating yourself, but if you’re looking for something a little lighter or that’s maybe a nice and nutritious Christmas snack, then these are for you.

I hope you enjoy these Ginger Oat Cookies! They’re so tasty and cute:)) I can’t wait to share more of my holiday baking with you guys so make sure to keep checking out my blog!

Ginger Oat Cookies

Serves: Makes about 12 Cookies (I used a cutter that was roughly 4 inches by 3 inches in size)

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Ginger Oat Cookies:

  • 1 cup ground walnuts
  • 2 cups oat flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

For the Chocolate Icing:

  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 1/2-5 tsp almond milk (depending on how thick/thin you’d like your icing)

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix all of the cookie ingredients together in a large bowl. Use your hands to form it into a big ball.
  3. Place the dough on top of a large piece of parchment paper, and cover it with an equally sized piece. Roll it out with a rolling pin so that it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters, placing the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
  4. When you run out of room to cut more cookies, collect all of the excess dough into a ball and repeat step 3. Continue to do this until you have used up all of the dough, and you have a pan full of soon-to-be cookies in front of you!
  5. Bake the cookies in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
  6. To make the icing, mix together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, and 2 tsp of the almond milk in a small bowl. Gradually add more milk until you reach your desired consistency.
  7. Scoop the icing into a piping bag and cut a small hole at the bottom. Use this to pipe decorations on to your cooled cookies.
  8. Let the icing on the cookies harden and proceed to enjoy! These can be stored in the fridge for about 10 days, or frozen and thawed when needed:)

Have a great rest of your week everyone! I’ll see you Friday with another great recipe:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Pumpkin Oat Cookies

Yay I finally got my hands on some canned pumpkin! You get a break from the apple recipes for a while. These Pumpkin Oat Cookies are the first thing that I made when I cracked open that can, and I gotta say, they’re pretty good. All that pumpkin-y goodness mixed up with maple syrup and a bunch of spices- mmmmm!

This recipe is super versatile too, because it’s nice and healthy. No refined flour or sugar, plus it’s dairy free! So you can munch on these for breakfast, dessert, as a snack, or any other time that you’re craving that pumpkin spice:)

To whip these babies up, I just stirred everything together in a bowl, then formed the cookies on a baking sheet and baked them for 15-20 minutes. It doesn’t get much simpler than that! I topped mine with some pumpkin seeds, but you could use chocolate chips, raisins, or coconut, or even mix some of that stuff directly into the batter. Anyway you make em, these cookies are delicious and need to be on your TBB list! (To Be Baked). Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Oat Cookies

Serves: Makes about 12 Cookies

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 2 1/2 cups oat flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • A handful of pumpkin seeds for topping, optional

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together all of the cookie ingredients until combined.
  3. Scoop out about a tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball. It might be pretty sticky, but that’s ok. Place it on a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten into a cookie shape. Repeat until you have about 12 cookies.
  4. Press about 3 pumpkin seeds onto the top of each cookie and place the pan into the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.

I’ll see you guys on Friday! Until then, enjoy these awesome cookies:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:)))

Carrot and Date Breakfast Cookies

Hey guys! Fall just sort of snuck up on my and now WHAM! It’s here. The other day I made this tea and berry drink thing and I realized that the time for berries has passed. We need some warm spices and things that are orange😂 So, I present to you, Carrot and Date Breakfast Cookies! These babes are simple, sweet, and hearty, and contain a very special secret ingredient.

Do you want to know what it is? The secret ingredient? It’s tahini!! I’ve only ever used tahini in hummus before, but in these breakfast cookies it gives such a nice nutty flavour! The other not-so-secret ingredients are carrots, dates, oats, and a bunch of fall spices. Let me just list all of the things that these are: REFINED SUGAR FREE. VEGAN. GLUTEN FREE. DAIRY FREE. DELICIOUS. Delicious is now a legit food category. These cookies just made it one.

If you don’t have tahini (you should get some) you can use a nut butter of choice👌 Also, play around with some add ins because raisins, chocolate chips, or dried fruit and nuts would be great in these. In this recipe, you have a perfect autumn-ish foundation for all of your fall baking dreams. Not to mention a great breakfast✌️ Enjoy my friends!!

Carrot and Date Breakfast Cookies

Serves: Makes 9 cookies

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 10 large Medjool Dates, pitted
  • 2/3 cup grated carrot
  • 2/3 cup rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp allspice

Directions:

  1. Bring a small pot to a simmer, then remove it from the heat. Add in the dates and let them sit in the warm water for 7-10 minutes to soften up.
  2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Add the softened dates into a blender or food processor and blend until a smooth paste forms. Scoop it into a bowl.
  4. Add the oats, carrot, tahini, and spices to the date paste. Stir until combined.
  5. Line a pan with parchment paper, and scoop out tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough. Place them on the pan and press down with your fingers to form cookies. Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.
  6. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before enjoying.

Hope you like this first taste of fall! Stay tuned for some apple and pumpkin recipes coming soon 🙌🙌

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))