Raw Chocolate Beta Packed Soft “Cookies”

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of carrot pulp
1/2 cup of goji berries
3 tablespoons of raw agave
4 pitted medjool dates
2 tablespoons of cold pressed coconut oil
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1/4 cup of raw almonds (soaked overnight) …optional
1 banana
2 tablespoons of raw wheat germ (optional)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of ground flax seeds (optional)

Carrots and goji berries pack a lot of beta carotene. This is a super healthy snack that my daughter and I love. I don’t make or buy a lot of “real” cookies because most of them contain so much unnecessary sugar that I don’t want my family and myself to be consuming. But, I don’t feel bad about giving my three year old these “cookies” because they are healthy! You have some grains, protein, minerals, and lots of antioxidants/vitamins (vitamin A, iron, Omega 3s, Vitamin C, folic acid, etc).

I make these “cookies” a lot and there are so many different variations. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more dates or raw agave. To give it a little more tang, you can even add dried cherries. You can even add raisins, dried figs, macadamia nuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds, etc. …..so many possibilities!

Note: you don’t have to have ALL of the ingredients listed, you can improvise.

Directions:

Note: if you don’t have carrot pulp, just shred some carrots in your food processor. I like to use the pulp when I juice (juice recipe click here) because I don’t like to waste perfectly good food. And, sometimes, I make dog food out of it (with apples and carrots). I give the pulp to my dogs raw or cook it with other ingredients like brown rice, broccoli, quinoa, etc.

Place all ingredients in the food processor.
Adjust sweetness preference.
Mold the mixture into little cookies (about 1/2 an inch thick).
Place the “cookies” in your food dehydrator.
Dehydrate for around 13 hours. You don’t want them too dry…it gets too hard and chewy.
Enjoy!…and, don’t forget to share the healthy cookies with other children!