I cut my finger. A bad one. I guess that I was due. Considering I haven’t cut or burned myself in a long time. As a professional cook, these are our work hazards: cuts, scrapes, burns, jalepeno juice squirts in the eyeball… far from glamourous. I actually had to see a Doctor for this one. I knew that he couldn’t put it back together since I lopped the top of my finger off, but I needed the good Doctor to stop the bleeding, which he did. Right after he gave me a hard time for continuing to work all day with my hand in a bloody latex glove. SO GLAMOUROUS!
Doctor gave strict orders to stay out of the kitchen for a few days in order to keep the wound and bandages dry.
“Pretty certain I can do anything with one hand”. – Overly optimistic Nichole
I took 24 hours off.
Got to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate bridge, by hanging out with friends on the bay and eating food that I did not cook. Watched the firework spectacular. Stunning, though my heavily bandaged finger did not fit into my gloves, so my hand was freezing! Yep, I wore one glove on my right hand, like Michael Jackson.
Here is the crowd at East Beach waiting for the sun to set and fireworks to start.
The next day I was back at it (No worries, Doctor knows nothing about this blog). Cooking in my home kitchen and making things that I felt would make my finger feel better. It’s ANOTHER therapeutic recipe!
Cookies, because the coconut milk ice cream was a disaster … will need to fine tune that one and get back to you guys about it. These cookies on the other hand are solid. A friend gave out this recipe as part of a presentation on aging. She handed out copies of the recipe and I have held on to it for years, like that scary troll thing from Lord of the Rings… my precious.
I have actually made them so many times, that I know the ratios by heart and I have had my way with adapting it many ties over. Add raisins or dried cranberries or dried cherries, no dark chocolate, MORE dark chocolate. You get it. It’s a versatile cookie. Have I mentioned how healthy they are? Because that is the reason we’re here in the first place.
My finger. It hurts. Naturally I needed cookies to make it feel better. It’s a a super bonus that these cookies happen to be delicious and healthy. Which will ultimately help to heal my finger, which will get me back into the kitchen faster. Perfect sense.
Why you should eat this?
First off: these have no gluten, and depending on the kind of chocolate you use, no dairy or sugar. (I choose, DARK chocolate, 70%) Gluten, dairy, sugar are acidic in the body. So the less of these you eat, the better you will feel. Simple.
Need more? OK, Walnuts make up the texture and most of the moisture in this cookie because of their fat content. Walnuts are one of the best plant sources of protein. Rich in fiber, B vitamins, magnesium, and antioxidants such as Vitamin E. Nuts in general are also high in plant sterols and fat – mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (Omega 3’s, in particular, alpha-linolenic acid ALA) that have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol.
With all these healthy fats and minerals, my body will have a much easier time regenerating the top of my finger, I really need that to grow back.
Gluten & Dairy Free Walnut Cookies (Yield: 48)
Adapted by Elise Dubois, Via Susan Steele
- 2 ½ c. Raw Walnuts
- ⅔ c. Gluten Free Flour, I have used Brown rice flour & Oat Flour both worked very well
- ⅓ c. Ground Flax
- ⅔ c. Maple Syrup
- ⅓ c. Dark Chocolate
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
First up: make your own flax meal.
I keep flax seeds in the freezer, they have volatile oils (Omega 3’s) that will go rancid if not kept properly. Those volatile oils, they are the most effective when they are ground fresh, the bags of flax meal at your market, who knows how long they have been sitting there?
I take the whole seeds and throw them in my coffee grinder, give them a whirl and just like that, fresh ground flax meal.
You did get that coffee grinder, right?
Now take all of the dry ingredients and throw them in a food processor. Add Vanilla.
Then drizzle in your maple syrup. The dough will get really sticky here and the blade of your processor may or may not mix it very well. You can step in and mix by hand from here if needed.
Chef tip: If you like to make cookies (or meatballs), get yourself a mini ice cream scoop to create even portions.
These cookies do not spread, so after I scoop them out, I pressed down with a fork shape them into rounds.
So they now look like this.
Bake for 15 minutes.
These cookies won’t brown too much on top, they’ll get brown on the bottom. I think 15 minutes is a good amount of time for them to cook. You really would rather these cookies be under cooked than over. Under cooked will leave some moisture and days later they will still be edible. Over cook them and you might break a tooth.
Let cool, and enjoy! WITH NO GUILT!
So good, trust me.
Nichole
No One Trusts a Skinny Chef 