Radically Natural Recipe: Winter Spice Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (plus Soaked Steel Cut Oats)
We usually end up with leftover cooked oats on the mornings we eat breakfast porridge. This recipe (borrowed and tweaked from lifebyjeanie.com) combines leftover cooked oats with gluten free flours and warm wintery spices. We eat them for breakfast, smeared in butter, but you can eat them as cookies anytime. They are soft and filling. Enjoy!
[Fun fact...when made with sunflower butter, your cookies will turn green. This has happened to me, and I just learned that the odd hue is caused by the sunflowers' chlorophyll reacting with the baking soda. Check this out.]
Winter Spice Breakfast Cookies
1 cup coconut oil OR 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cut butter OR 1 cup nut butter3/4 cup raw coconut sugar OR 1/2 cup raw honey
2 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 cups gluten free flour mix (check out the video below)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tb cinnamon
1/2 tsp. each ginger, nutmeg, cloves (more to taste as desired)
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup raw cacao nibs
2 cups cooked soaked oatmeal (recipe below)
4 Tb raw milk OR yogurt
Combine the wet ingredients (not the oats or milk yet) and mix well. Incorporate the dry ingredients (minus raisins and nibs), then add the milk and the cooked oatmeal. Finally add the raisins and the cacao nibs. Mix until well combined. Spoon onto greased or lined (silpat, parchment) cookie sheets. Bake at 375º for 12 to 15 minutes. The cookies will not spread and they will be golden and soft when finished (though thoroughly cooked inside...should not be gummy).
Here is a helpful video tutorial on making your own gluten free flour mix (thanks for the link, Amy!).
Soaked Steel Cut Oats (with cooking shortcut)
I have seen varying NT-style methods for preparing oats. Here is my method. If you don't already know why you should soak your oats and other grains (in an acidic medium) before consumption, please read Nourishing Traditions and/or the many available articles on the topic (I'll post a few links below).Because oats are nearly devoid of phytase, the enzyme activated by soaking that helps to break down phytic acid, it is important to add a small amount of a grain that does contain phytase during your oat soak. I use buckwheat because it is a gluten-free grain (as are oats when not contaminated). The ratio is 1 Tb. buckwheat groats to 1 cup oats. I usually cook steel cut oats for improved nutrient and taste profile.
My current method of "quicker" steel cut oats for breakfast is as follows. On any given morning, I begin the soaking process by putting my oats and buckwheat into my pot with a small amount (about 1/4 cup) of kefir or a few generous dashes of ACV. I then fill the pot with nontoxic water, basically in a 2-1 water to grain ratio. (The oats will expand.) I allow the oats to soak all day (minimum 12 hours). Before bed, I rinse the oats with fresh water (some people do, some people don't...), then return them to the pot and cover the oats with water to about one inch above the oats' level. I turn on the stovetop to medium and bring the oats to a gentle boil. At that point, I turn off the heat, cover the pot with its lid, and go to bed. In the morning, the oats will be cooked, having slowly absorbed the liquid overnight, and will only need to be heated before consumption. I serve with generous amounts of butter, cinnamon, some raisins and raw milk. Leftover oats are baked into breakfast cookies.
[Some suggest that oats should be soaked for 24 hours. This is not bad advice. The longer the soak, the more nutrients become available. To soak for 24 hours with my method, just start the soaking on Evening A, and rinse and "cook" on Evening B.]