Don't you wish you could pay for everything with baked goods?
My friend Abby was super kind and awesome enough to offer to help design the logo for a new teaching venture of mine,
Bloom Integrated Educational Enrichment. Instead of being paid in green paper and metal disks, she asked to be paid in cookies. Since this was a pretty awesome request, I knew I had to make something that was both unique and great tasting. For a while I had been pondering the possibilities of some walnut crumbs that I was accumulating in my designated walnut mason jar in the pantry. Besides being awesome to sprinkle over salad, soup, or warm cereal, I knew that walnut crumbs could do so much more.
When I saw my gluten free macaroon recipe featured in
Angela's Vegan Recipe Link Love feature, I had one of those great food-lightbulb moments. Instead of using almond flour in macaroons, I could use walnut flour. So I got out the ever-ready-to-please blender and started grinding my walnuts into more sweet crumbles. If you don't have a blender, a mortar and pestle would work (I tried that for a while) as would placing the walnuts in a plastic bag and using a rolling pin or even a hammer or mallet to crush the walnuts into blissful bits.
To bring the macaroons to a new level, I merged them with my favorite kind of cake -- carrot cake. Carrot cake tends to have a nice handful of walnuts in it, so it seemed perfect. Along with my favorite crystallized ginger and a mix of golden and brown raisins, I knew I wouldn't need any sugar at all in this recipe.
I also made my own walnut butter by blending walnuts with the tiniest bit of melted ghee and water. It took it a while to get to a smooth consistency, but patience is virtue. If you have a food processor, I'd recommend using that in lieu of the blender on account of your awesome blade action.
Carrot Cake Walnut Macaroons
- 1 1/2 cups walnut powder
- 2 large carrots, grated
- 1/4 cup millet flour
- 1/2 cup walnut butter
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped.
- 3/4 cup mixed golden and brown raisins
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup almond milk
- 2 tablespoons melted ghee/melted butter
Have all your mise in place -- your walnuts ground, your carrots grated, crystallized ginger chopped, and your walnut butter made if you're making it. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet. Combine all dry ingredients thoroughly, then add the vanilla extract and ghee. Slowly add the milk, being careful not to add more than necessary -- this will vary depending on the size/juiciness of your carrots. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, drop the cookies onto the baking sheet. Let these babies do their thing in the oven for about 20 minutes. Let cool on a drying rack if you have the patience. Makes a dozen.
Do you like to barter or trade? Has someone ever paid you in cookies instead of money?
