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DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS by CoachBJ

DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS

Grab a bar for a whole food, plant-based snack. These delicious Date Walnut Cranberry Bars are filled with natural sweetener for a scrumptious healthy dessert. When you combine dates, dried cranberries and walnuts you get terrific flavors, a satisfying taste and plenty of nutritional value! Let’s get started.

DATES
DATES- 10 ounces for healthy DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS

Preparing the Dates:
Today we are using 10 ounces of pitted whole dates as the main sweetener for the DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS. To keep them fresh, I freeze a bag of pitted dates until I’m ready to use. They are easy to pull apart and thaw in a microwave in about 30 seconds.

CHOPPING DATES
CHOPPING DATES (10 ounces) to make DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS

Chop the thawed dates with a knife and when the knife becomes sticky just run it under cool water and continue chopping. The 10 ounces of chopped dates make about 2 cups.

CHOPPED DATES - 2 cups
CHOPPED DATES – 2 cups
DOUGH FOR DATES WALNUT BARS
DOUGH FOR DATES WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS

DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS RECIPE

Serves: 24 || Prep Time: 25 minutes || Cook Time: 25 minutes

10 ounces pitted dates or 2 cups chopped
3/4 cup water (to cover chopped dates to soften)
1 cup (5.45 ounces) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (2.20 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup (3.30 ounces) oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon concentrate orange juice
3 tablespoons aquafaba (brine from chick peas)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
3/4 cup (3.00 ounces) chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (2.10 ounces) dried cranberries
Optional: If the dough is too stiff to spread, add additional water tablespoon by tablespoon
Optional: Use dried cherries in place of dried cranberries

Preparing the dates:  Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Chop pitted dates and place in a small microwaveable bowl along with 3/4 cup water. Microwave the dates for 3-4 minutes or until they break down to your liking; stir and set aside.

Preparing the dough:  In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. To the dates add vanilla, aquafaba, peanut butter and orange juice concentrate; mix until combined. Place wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mix until combined. At this time, if needed, add tablespoons of water. Combine walnuts and cranberries. Either (1) fold in walnut/cranberry mix or (2) place walnut/cranberry mix on top of dough and press into dough.

Baking the bars:  Spoon and even out the dough in a non-stick 9 inch by 13 inch pan or line a bake ware pan with parchment paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool before cutting into 24 servings.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 119, Total Fat 4g, Saturated Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 73 mg, Total Carbohydrate 20g, Fiber 3g, Sugars 11g

DATE WALNUT BARS OUT OF THE OVEN
DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS OUT OF THE OVEN
DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS
CoachBJ’s DATE WALNUT CRANBERRY BARS RECIPE – I used dried cherries this time, another great tasting whole foods, plant-based recipe.

Enjoy!

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Making Christmas SUGAR COOKIES by CoachBJ

SUGAR COOKIES

Sugar cookies with icing is a perennial Christmas favorite. The whole family can join in the activity to decorate Christmas cookies and especially sugar cookies. Last year during Holiday season my friend, Dr. Liz, asked if I had a favorite sugar cookie recipe but I didn’t, in fact, it had been years since I had a sugar cookie or similar; even in the days before I became vegan, sugar cookies with icing were too sweet tasting for me. I don’t often tackle  old recipes calling for lots of unhealthy ingredients such as butter, eggs, oil and sugar. Understatement – to make this recipe healthier was a challenge but I was up for it.  

Of course since our taste buds on a whole foods, plant-based life-style makes us hypersensitive to sugar, my first task was to cut down on the sugar, which I handily did. I borrowed Sarah’s, my neighbor’s, Christmas cookie cutters and off to my test kitchen – now I was all in.  Testing. Tasting. And I am happy to report that I, as well as, those who were tasting and testing the cookies were pleased with the results! I had fun creating, baking and eating, I hope you have as much fun as I did! SEE CoachBJ’s Sugar Cookie recipe below.

SUGAR COOKIES SUGAR COOKIES – Whole foods, Plant-Based sugar cookies. I did use a glaze to icing the cookies, a little extra for Christmas celebrations. You can’t just eat one!

COACH BJ’S SUGAR COOKIES
Serves: 20 – 24 medium size cookies || Prep Time: 45 minutes || Cook Time: 9-10 minutes

Sugar Cookies Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (2.20 ounces)
2/3 cup white whole wheat flour (2.90 ounces)
2 tablespoons arrowroot
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons aquafaba (chick pea brine)
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 – 5 tablespoons non-dairy unsweetened milk, as needed

Cooking Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degree F. Combine the first 6 dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a small bowl add peanut butter, aquafaba, maple syrup and non-dairy milk; whisk until smooth. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients to form a moist dough ball. Sprinkle a non-stick surface with flour, knead the dough and form into a disk shape. Place the disk on the floured surface, place a piece of wax paper over the disk and roll to 1/4 inch thickness with a rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to make various shapes. Place shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Cool the cookies before adding icing and decorating. Lay out decorated cookies to dry.

Have FUN decorating the cookies with icing, sprinkles and chocolate, that is, if you don’t eat them all first.

Icing Ingredients (make several containers for various colors, try mixing colors)
For WHITE ICING:
1/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2- 1 teaspoon non-dairy unsweetened milk or as needed 
For COLORED ICING using natural liquids as delineated below:
1/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make ORANGE/GOLD:  1/2- 1 teaspoon orange concentrate produces a pale yellow, add a pinch of turmeric to change to golden or
To make PINK/REDDISH hue:  1/2 – 1 teaspoon squeezed blueberries juice or cranberry juice or
Melt CHOCOLATE pieces or chips mixed with a little non-dairy milk

 

SUGAR COOKIES SUGAR COOKIES: Vegan sugar cookies. The colored icing was made by adding blueberry juice, orange concentrate, melted chocolate and mixing…it was fun decorating and eating them.

HAVE FUN BAKING AND EATING HEALTHY
SUGAR COOKIES!!

SUGAR COOKIES MADE EASY: I like to call this process efficient. Just roll out the dough, cut in squares with a knife, bake, cool, then spread various colored icing with a brush over the cookies. Plant-based sugar cookies made QUICK and EASY!