Being sensitive to the effects that white sugar has on my blood sugar levels I decided to replace it with my unrefined sugar that is full of naturally occurring minerals. It added a wonderfully rich and satisfying flavour to the cookies. Coupled with the fact that I used organic, natural peanut butter with no added ingredients these cookies aren’t all that unhealthy anymore!

Ingredients:

1 cup organic peanut butter (look for a brand with peanuts being the only ingredient)
1 cup organic unrefined sugar (rapadura, panela, gur or jaggery are all common names of unrefined sugar that are currently sold at health food stores)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Combine all the ingredients together and mix well.

Using unrefined coconut butter to lightly oil your hands, roll the dough into small balls and place on the cookie sheet. I find that smaller cookies work best for this recipe. Press down slightly with a fork until they’re about 1/2 inch thick (they won’t spread or flatten very much, if at all)

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

When removed from the oven they will still be very soft to the touch. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

These delicious cookies are very soft and chewy, yum!

Sweetened with almond amasake and raw honey it’s packed with flavour and nutrients. Amasake is a fermented brown rice beverage which can be used as a natural sweetener and raw honey contains live enzymes which aid in the digestion of carbohydrates. Cinnamon is added, not only for it’s flavour, but for it’s ability to slow the rate at which the stomach empties after meals, reducing the rise in blood sugar after eating.

Brown basmati rice is a great place to start if you’re new to the texture and flavour of brown rice. Soaking the rice in water for 12 hours or overnight also helps to break down the fiber and improves the absorption and digestibility of the nutrients it contains. It also cuts the cooking time in half. Just reduce the amount of water you use to cook the rice by about 1/4 depending on how firm or soft you like your rice. Stay tuned for a blog post on the health benefits of coconut oil and coconut milk.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown basmati rice, soaked for 12 hrs
1 400ml can of coconut milk
1/2 cup almond amasake (Green Cuisine is the brand I use)
1 tsp-1 tbsp raw honey
1 tsp cinnamon or to taste
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package directions replacing 1/2 to 3/4 of the water with coconut milk, reducing the overall liquid by 1/4 if you soaked your rice.

(My brown basmati rice called for 1 cup of rice to be cooked in 2 cups of water for 50min. I combined 1 cup soaked rice with 1 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup water, simmering over low heat, with the lid on until the liquid was absorbed and rice was tender about 25min)

Once your rice is cooked add 1/2 cup almond amasake, additional coconut milk to desired consistency, raw honey* and cinnamon to taste. Mix well and stir in raisins.

*Only add raw honey to your rice pudding when it’s cool enough to eat, so the live enzymes are not killed by the heat.

Serve warm, immediately after cooking or cool and refrigerate. I enjoy this rice pudding cold as a snack or dessert. For breakfast I add chopped almonds for the additional protein.

Enjoy!