Who knows what day it is? And, what to do with the leftover almond pulp when making almond milk?

I guess when life got tough last month, I stopped blogging for a while. I haven't stopped logging what I eat and what I exercise--I keep a daily journal and sort of obsessively log all those facts there. But I was boring myself with the posts about what I'm eating. Its pretty boring...quinoa...steamed veggies...smoothies, smoothies, smoothies...

My plan is to continue blogging when I have something interesting to share. This post come to update a recipe I posted a few weeks ago about making granola bars. I've been tweaking my recipe over time, and I think the new and improved version (below) is much better than the one I posted here. They're vegan and paleo, and are held together by honey, almond butter, and chia seeds, which when soaked in water turn into a sort of goo that can stick vegan baked goods together.

I make almond milk frequently (I no longer buy almond milk from the store, since it’s so easy to make myself).  Anybody who makes almond milk knows, however, that there are leftover almond solids, a fibery dry pulp. It feels sort of sinful to compost them. I read on the internet that they can be used in baked goods, but I had had difficulty finding recipes. I devised the following recipe myself. It makes a chewy, crunchy, seedy sort of cookie that’s not very sweet, but not terribly bad for me either.  

I came up with this recipe when my husband and I were competing to see who could go the longest without eating white sugar. These cookies satisfy my desire for sweets without ingesting too much high-glycemic junk like white flour or sugar, and they are also gluten-free and vegan.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Airquotes Granola Cookies

Almond solids left over from 2 batches of almond milk (approx. 2 cups)

½ cup chopped raw cashews

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

¼ cup roasted flax seeds

Tsp cinnamon

A few shakes of nutmeg

½ tsp salt

½ c raisins

½ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup dried coconut flakes

½ cup + 2 tbsp honey

½ cup almond butter

Capful of vanilla extract

3 tbsp chia seeds

¼ cup + 1 tbsp water

Coconut oil or non-stick spray to grease your cookie sheets

Large baking dish (like a 9x14 pyrex), 2 cookie sheets, large mixing bowl, small sauce pan, small bowl

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Preheat oven to 300. Use the convection setting if your oven has one.

Spread the almond solids in a large baking pan. Break them up as small as possible if they are clumping together. Bake for 30 or 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, for as long as it takes for the almond solids to dry out and brown just a little bit. Remove from the oven. The point of this step is to dry out your almond solids, and it turns them into a sort of almond flour.

Turn heat on the oven up to 350, using the regular (not convection) setting.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cashews, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and almond solids. Stir well. Put all this back in your baking pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Spread a small amount of coconut oil on your cookie sheets, or spray them with non-stick spray.

While your nuts are baking, combine raisins, cranberries and coconut in your mixing bowl.

Combine chia seeds and water in a small dish. Stir occasionally, until the seeds have absorbed all the water and a gooey sort of paste is formed.

In a small sauce pan over low heat, combine honey, almond butter, and vanilla. Stir well and frequently until you see tiny bubbles forming around the edge. Remove from heat.

Now comes the fun part! Wash your hands well. Put your nut mixture into dried fruit mixture and stir well. Add honey/almond butter and chia seed goo and knead them together with your hands until a sticky dough sort of forms.

Form the dough into cookie-shaped circles. I do this by squeezing a handful at a time in one hand, and then pressing and flattening it out. It takes some time to get the hang of this. Alternatively, you can press your dough into a greased pan and then cut it into bars once it’s baked, but I find that they hold together better if you take the time to form them into cookies.

Bake 17-20 minutes, or until browned around the edges and on the bottoms of the cookies.