Valentine’s Day Love Cookies

Spread the love! It’s Valentine’s Day, which means it’s time for cookies. Make them with healthy ingredients to prove your love is real!

Valentine’s Day brings back fond childhood memories for many of us. One of my favorite memories was receiving cinnamon heart candies; I love cinnamon in all its forms. I wanted to create a healthy cookie that not only combined my love for cinnamon but other similar spices as well. Cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves are known to have amazing blood sugar lowering effects.

Although I chose to make these cookies simple, you can choose to decorate them as you wish. Drizzle them with raw chocolate sauce, add coconut butter, almond butter, or any natural fruit jams (raspberry is my favorite). Experiment and be creative. I have also given you various nut options. They are all good and can work. Mix and match each time you make them and see which combination you like. I couldn’t decide, so that’s why I have given you a choice. Try them out and let us know what you think.

Valentine’s Day Love Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts or almonds (choose 1)
• 1 cup pecans or hazelnuts (choose 1 other nut type)
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 table spoon Sunwarrior Classic Vanilla Protein
• 2 tablespoons chia gel
• ¼ teaspoon liquid stevia (vanilla) or to taste
• ½ cup Medjool dates (optional) (Omit if on a Keto diet)
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt

Directions:

1. In a food processor, add the nuts and shredded coconut and process using an S blade until you get flour like consistency. Do not over process.
2. Add the protein powder, chia gel, stevia, vanilla and all the spices. Process until all ingredients are well combined and the dough sticks together.
3. Taste the dough for personal sweetness. You can add more sweetness, vanilla or salt to desired personal taste.
4. Once all the ingredients are well combined, gather the dough into a ball.
5. Using a silicone baking sheet, dehydrator sheet or parchment paper, flatten out the dough using a rolling pin.
6. Once dough is flat, about ½ inch thick, use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut dough.
7. Keep rolling out the dough and cut the dough with cookie cutters until all dough has been used.
8. Place cookies in the dehydrator at 115 degrees. Dehydrate over night or until cookies are dry. If you want them chewier, dehydrate less if you want them crispier, dehydrate longer.
9. Alternatively, if you do not have a dehydrator, put them in them in the oven at the lowest temperature and check in 10 to 15-minute increments. Remove them from the oven when they look done.
10. These cookie keep well in the fridge or freezer.

Enjoy with a glass of almond, coconut milk or Mache green tea latte.