GF Cowgirl Up Cookies

I believe if I were on my own I could eat a fully raw diet but with kids being home with me 24 hrs, and the fact that I LOVE TO BAKE, it just isn't practical for our family, (though I know others are managing wonderfully) The McManus clan eats a fair amount of quinoa and GF oatmeal. Today, the girls and I made some crazy good and healthy cookies.  We had a left over bag of homemade trail mix ( walnuts, almonds, goji berries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and Enjoy LIfe allergy free chocolate chips) and it gave me an idea :) My Mom used to make cowboy cookies when I was a kid. Oatmeal, m &m's , nuts and chocolate chips. So I kind of went with that thought process. I saw a recipe on Oh She Glows  and mixed hers ,with a little of my Mama's, and my left over trail mix bag and out came Cowgirl Up Cookies! We don’t have “sugar” in our diet anymore, so the use of maple syrup really does the trick, you will never miss the stuff in these cookies!

Dry Ingredients:  

                   

1 C ground GF rolled oats (blended into oat flour in processor)           

1/2 cup GF rolled oats  

1/2 c almond flour                               

1/2 c crushed walnuts                           

1/2 c crushed or sliced almonds                            

1/2 c goji berries                       

1/2 c  sunflower seeds

1/2 c  pumpkin seeds

2 T chia seeds

2 T raw cacoa nibs

3/4 t cinnamon

1/2 t fine sea salt

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

Wet ingredients:

Flax Egg ( 1 T ground flax, 2 T water, mix set aside)

1/4 c  raw almond butter (  or other runny nut butter of choice, sunflower seed butter would probably be great also)

1/4 c melted coconut oil

1/4 c pure maple syrup

1 t pure vanilla

*you may need to wet your hands a little while rolling into balls, mixture can get sticky

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flax egg set aside. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients. It would be very helpful to have a high powered mixer/processor for crushing nuts and grinding your own oats. Stir the wet ingredients in small bowl mix until well combined. Stir wet to dry, mix well until there are no dry parts left. Spoon out and roll into small balls, no need to over do it. Place on cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes. Makes 27 cookies.  Cowgirl up!