These no bake cookies are perfect for a quick treat, especially in the summer when you may want to avoid turning on the oven. The cookie is mildly sweet and gives the benefit of fiber as well as protein.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (no bake)

• 1/4 cup Coconut Oil or Butter
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 4 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Milk
• 2 dashes of Sea Salt

Heat the coconut oil, honey, cocoa, rice milk, and sea salt over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minutes and remove from heat. Then add:

• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup Peanut Butter
• 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Oatmeal

Stir well and drop by the tablespoon onto parchment paper, glass plate, or wax paper. Makes about 12 cookies.

Alternatives

• Carob Oatmeal Cookies: simply substitute Carob Powder for the Cocoa.
• Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies: Add a few tablespoons of unsweetened coconut when adding in the flour and oatmeal.

I made this today for my daughter’s Mother/Daughter Girls Night Birthday Party. I made it without cream cheese since my children can’t have it. It can be totally dairy-free and even healthier if you make both the cookie and frosting with coconut oil instead of butter.

• Make a half batch of Sugar Cookie Dough.
• Roll out into a large circle on pizza pan or pizza stone.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees F.
• Allow cookie to completely cool.
• Make Sucanat Butter Cream Frosting and spread on cooled cookie.
• Slice the fruit of your choice and decorate as desired.

I made these cookies for the luncheon after my son Lightning’s baptism. It makes quite a few cookies. I had several people say the cookies were super yummy. The recipe was requested, so here it is:

• 3 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour*
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
• 2 tsp. ground Ginger
• 1 1/4 tsp. ground, Cloves
• 1 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 c. Butter OR Coconut Oil**
• 2 1/2 c. Sucanat
• 1/2 c. unsulfured Molasses
• 2 large Eggs (or 3 medium)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients together and mix well. In large bowl cream together butter, sucanat, molasses, and eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture and combine well.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper instead). Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes at 325 degrees F. Remove from oven and allow to cool a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cookies will flatten out, look cracked, and harden up a little. Store in airtight container for up to a week. Makes 3-4 dozen.

* I’ve found that really good flour (fresh and well ground…not quite pastry, but a consistent fine ground texture) is essential in good bread and cookies. A whole wheat flour that has what looks like wheat germ (little flakes of brown) in it can still be used, but the texture will be different and not as moist. If you can grind your own flour, do it. Otherwise I recommend a flour like Bronze Chief 100% Whole Wheat Flour as a good pick, especially if you’re making whole wheat bread…and that, my friends, is for another post.

** The cookies will be less puffy and more flat when made with coconut oil. They are still fabulous though!

So I like making traditional treat recipes into something a little more healthy. I can’t say the amount of fat in something like brownies is healthy, but if I’m going to make them it might as well be with healthier ingredients!

Brownies

• 1/2 c. Coconut Oil (or butter)
• 1 c. Sucanat*
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 4 T Cocoa Powder (or carob powder)
• 2 Eggs
• 2/3 c. Whole Wheat Flour*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease square 8 x 8 pan. Melt coconut oil in sauce pan and remove from heat (if needed–coconut oil is a liquid above 76 degrees). Add sucanat, vanilla, and cocoa powder and mix well. Quickly stir in eggs and then mix in flour. Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Serve warm or cold. If frosting brownies, wait until completely cool.

*For Brownies made with Honey, substitute 3/4 cup Honey for the Sucanat and add another 1/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour.

Chocolate Frosting

• 1/2 c. Coconut Oil (or butter, softened)
• 1 c. Powdered Sucanat*
• 1/4 c. Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. Vanilla (or other preferred extract)
• 1-3 Tbsp. Water

Cream coconut oil, powdered sucanat, cocoa powder, vanilla and one tablespoon of water adding more water as needed. Will frost an 8 x 8 pan of brownies with leftovers OR a 13 x 9 inch cake.

* To make Powdered Sucanat, blend 2 cups of Sucanat in blender until it is a fine powder. I like to make about 4 cups at a and store it in a quart jar.

Okay, so I get on kicks of trying to health-ify treats. It’s really not hard to do, so this one I was a little wary of only because lemon bars are usually so light in color. Sucanat makes everything darker in color, but the taste is still fantastic! These used to be frequently requested by my hubby, but I didn’t like making them. Why? I’m not sure because that last two times I’ve made them, they’ve been a cinch! Okay, so here’s the recipe.

Lemon Bars

• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup Coconut Oil (if you don’t want coconut flavor, add butter instead)
• 1/4 cup powdered Sucanat
• 1 cup Sucanat
• 2 tsp. grated Lemon Peel
• 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
• 2 large Eggs
• Powdered Sucanat — for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix flour, coconut oil, and 1/4 cup powdered sucanat.  Press in ungreased  square pan (8 x 8 x 2 inch OR 9 x 9 x 2 inch), building up 1/2 inch edge.  Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven.

Beat remaining ingredients, except powdered sucanat, with mixer for about 3 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy (by hand doesn’t work well).  Pour over hot crust.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in the center.  Cool in pan.  Dust with powdered sucanat, cut, and serve.