My Favorite Granola

I absolutely love this granola! It is gluten free and sugar free, yet it has nothing but flavor! It only has four ingredients (optional five) and all you need is a food processor. It was inspired to copycat a granola served at one of my favorite local organic restaurants. I love having this granola on hand to sprinkle on yogurt parfaits.

When you are making it be sure to ONLY pulse it - do not hit "on" on your food processor and let it ride.....it'll turn into paste and that is not the consistency you are looking for. It should be crumbly. It takes about a minute or two of hitting the pulse button on and off before getting the desired texture. Using cold dates helps them to keep the texture better when pulsing.

This granola is full of fiber, healthy fats like Omega 3s, protein, antioxidants, magnesium, potassium, iron and vitamins E. And honestly, it just tastes delicious!
 
Ingredients:
1 cup raw organic walnuts
1/2 cup raw organic almonds
1/2 cup raw organic pistachios (shelled)
about 8 organic Medjool dates, pitted and cut in half, these should be cold from the refrigerator
pinch of salt, optional

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse on and off until granola is desired consistency - which is little, even sized "crumbles".  Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

This makes about 1 1/2 cups of granola.

Candy Cane Christmas Cookies

These cookies were a BIG hit with everyone today! I used a little bit less sugar than I normally would when making cookies because the candy kisses and candy canes add quite a bit of sweetness. I'm really happy with how they turned out and all three kids said, "You need to blog these, Mom!" So, here ya go!  These are perfect cookies for the holidays!!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 10 Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses, unwrapped and chopped
• 5 regular size candy canes, crushed into small pieces
• 1/4 mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Stir softened butter and sugar together; add egg and stir. Add vanilla and stir. Add salt, 1/2 cup flour and baking soda; stir together. Add remaining 1/2 cup of flour. 

Chop the ten Candy Cane Kisses into little pieces like this:

Add the chopped Candy Cane Kisses, crushed candy canes and 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips to the dough and fold in. Place dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours (up to overnight) before baking (I promise you there is an actual science to the why chilled cookies bake/taste better - go ahead and google it!). 

Lightly grease a cookie sheet with butter - I don't usually do this but the melted candy canes have a tendency to stick to the cookie sheet - greasing it makes them come of the pan more easily. Trust me!

Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a plate. Enjoy!