Monochrome has recently ignited my interest. I can’t put my finger on why it has, but it has. And such a phenomenon is surprising for me, as I love colour, colour pop, colour burst, and well, colour. Not to insinuate that black or white are not colours, of course they are, but my palate is usually comprised of more than the basic 2.
The obsession has been showing itself in my dressing off late, and managed to show itself this morning again, as I was getting ready to take some shots of the cookies. It started with the chic black bicycles on the white cloth. It went on to my charcoal plate which I bought from Country Road in SA, and the monochrome swirl napkin.
On to the cookies – there’s easy, then there is very easy, and then insanely easy. This falls into the latter most. It involves practically zero prep work, zero effort, and zero whisking/mixing. Did I mention that they are vegan? Packed with almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts and oats. I think I am going to make these again, but into bars this time, to double up as granola bars (that way, I can justify eating a lot more!!).
This recipe was inspired by the namesake on The Kitchn. What I changed was substituting the canola oil for coconut oil, and my choice of nuts was a mix of 1/3 almond, 1/3 macadamia and 1/3 walnut as well as increasing the cooking time. The different textures and flavours of the nuts added a great texture to the end product, and the coconut oil really does add an uncanny depth to the humble cookies. But of course, you can totally use canola or vegetable oil instead, as well as any other nut/nuts of preference.
To keep the cookies sugar free, use sugar free jam instead of regular. Or skip the ‘thumbprint’ and make it flat as a disc, and bake like biscuits. My only reservation is that on their own, the cookies can tend to be a tad but dry, which is why the jam centre really works well. But of course, to make the treat amenable to restrictions, half a tsp of jam less is a small price to pay! It’s almost like eating your cookie and having it too!
- 1/3 cup whole almonds
- 1/3 cup macadamia nuts
- 1/3 cup whole walnuts
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup oats
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- Preheat the oven to 180*c and line two trays with parchment paper or silpat.
- In a processor, pulse the nuts 1-2 times until coarse, not powdered. Some whole bits are beautiful.
- Empty into a medium mixing bowl. In the same processor, pulse the oats 1-2 times until crumbly but not so much that it becomes a flour. Add to the nut mixture. Mix in the salt and the flour.
- To the mixture, add in the oil and the maple syrup. Make sure to do it in this order, as the oil coats the measuring cup, causing the syrup to slip out effortlessly.
- Let the sticky mix stand for 10-15 minutes before scooping out tablespoon-fulls onto the prepared trays. Use a 1/2 tsp measure to make thumbprints onto each cookie. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and slightly crispy. Remove from oven and let it stand for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to completely cool.
- Once cooled, fill the centres with jams or preserves of choice. Store in an airtight container.
