Over the course of a few hours we dipped pretzels in chocolate, sprinkled peppermint on chocolate bark and crowned peanut butter blossoms with a Hershey’s kiss. And you know what happened next? I practically ate a dozen of everything. I think this is the part where I say, “Hi, my name’s Dana and I have…a cookie problem.” Good news, though. Since then I haven’t inhaled a tin of chocolate bark, licked gobs of frosting off my fingers or made a game of seeing how many white chocolate pretzel sticks I can stick in my mouth at one time (although, now that I mention it, that sounds like an awesome idea). And it’s not because I’ve had a deep look inside myself and wrestled the will to take control of my raging sweet tooth. It’s because I haven’t had the junk in in my house. It’s that simple. Junk food makes me feel terrible and I’ve been having an increasingly difficult time ignoring my conscience anytime I’m tempted to put something less-than-wholesome in my mouth. (Is this what they call becoming an adult?) After all, we only get so many meals in a day and I want to make sure all of mine count, for good. Lucky for me these cookies are full-on wholesome. They’re vegan, gluten free and contain no added sugar. Just dates, peanuts, oats, almonds and dark chocolate. They also match the likeness of a popular Girl Scout Cookie, only without all the partially hydrogenated what have yous and high fructose devil syrups. This is pure hippie dessert heaven. The centers are tender, peanut-y and slightly salty thanks to salted, natural peanut butter (I made mine from scratch), and have just a hint of sweetness from a handful of dates. You could certainly leave them as is for a healthy snack, or you could cover them in dark chocolate to elevate them to dessert status. Besides being simple to make, these little guys stay forever in the freezer so you can pop one out any time you want for an occasional treat. Alternatively, they’d make great gifts wrapped up all pretty – Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, after all. Note: We’ve updated our Blog Resources page and added a tutorials section that includes a photography and Photoshop lesson involving this recipe. Hope you find it helpful! Let us know what you think.
