Grain-Free

This almond flour cookie is grain-free, oil-free, and packed with dark chocolate chips! Perfect for when you need a single serve cookie fast. 

Hi friends, how’s it going?

My cookbook manuscript is due in exactly one week so the nerves here are palpable. 

M got me a beautiful new standing desk as an early birthday present that honestly couldn’t have come at a better time.

It’s just my style– sturdy, wooden, and rustic, with a spacious top and a lever that adjusts the height. 

It will be put to good use as I feverishly finalize my manuscript writing this week and prepare to photograph the recipes next week! 

Yes, my birthday is coming soon (April 2nd!); the second birthday spent in quarantine. 

This past weekend was my 1-year quarantine anniversary, marking one whole year since I started staying home. 

I felt inspired to put together a post on Instagram with some of my thoughts after 365 days of quarantine life.  

But despite the heaviness of the past year and stress of the book, I feel lightness on the horizon. 

This week has beautiful weather forecast, I signed up for my vaccine,  oh, and I perfected the art of making a single serve cookie. 

This Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie for One is ready in 15 minutes for nights when you need a single cookie fast! …

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Date Caramel Nougat Bars made with Medjool dates and an almond flour nougat base. Dunk them in vegan chocolate for a Snickers dessert feel! 

Lately, I’ve been a recipe-testing machine. 

I’m *this* close to finalizing my recipes for the cookbook, so the fridge is loaded with leftovers and the freezer is nope-ing out on any additions. 

Not to mention the usual creative chaos of recipe testing for my first love, this space on the internet. 

I currently feel like my attention is divided between two needy children, and I oscillate between them like a bobblehead; not wanting to play favorites.

Trying to keep things even. 

Such as, which recipes do I save for the book and which do I keep for the Internet?

I imagine it’s how my mom and dad felt divvying up gifts for my sister and I on our birthdays (exactly one week apart in the Spring). 

Particularly because I kept numerical score, carefully counting the number of Rachel’s wrapped gifts to compare to my own loot tally the following week. 

Haha. 

M and I have a system of passing on decision-making for the evening, meaning the other person has to make any and all decisions, including, but not limited to: what to eat for dinner, which yoga class to stream, and which show to watch on Netflix. 

Life decisions during COVID are hard. 

Luckily, the cookbook is meal-prep focused, which narrows down my scope a bit. 

And while these Date Caramel Nougat Bars are highly delicious and addicting, they’re not a meal prep essential, freeing me to share them with you now. 

Oh, but they *are* essential; essentially delicious with just six ingredients and an easy no-bake method! 

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Vegan raspberry cheesecake with a gluten-free almond-oat crust, dairy-free cashew coconut cream cheese filling, and a tart raspberry topping. 

I’m writing to you today from bright snow-covered Virginia. 

The snow started on Sunday and white stuff has been falling off and on since then for the last three days (it’s now Tuesday).

I dawned sapphire snowpants, my blue Northface down jacket, and a cerulean wool hat my sister knit me for Christmas to take my daily walk. 

“The blueberry”, M and I fondly referred to the monochromatic ensemble, laughing as we made two sets of footprints in freshly fallen snow.  

Yeah, you have to be pretty darn confident to rock that many shades of blue at the same time in public. 

So I was feeling so conspicuous and cool that I decided to make my first snow angel in 15 years. 

We staked out a fresh plot of snow away from the kids sledding and the half-built snowmen to imprint my likeness. 

Have you made a snow angel recently?

I plopped down on my back and laid there for a second, feeling the cold clarity of the snow underneath me. 

Guys, for a split second I wasn’t quite sure what to do.

Finally, I waved my arms and legs back and forth wildly, feeling snow shift around me in small mounds. 

I stood up to admire my snow-art, giving M the thumbs up as he laughed, recording the ridiculousness on his phone.

It also snowed last week on M’s birthday! 

Which brings me to my recipe for today; Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake.

It’s baked in the oven and made deliciously dairy-free with three layers! 

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Almond butter chocolate chunk cookie bars layered with a chocolate date topping. A fun vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free dessert!

How’s 2021 treating you so far, everyone?

It’s been really busy here.

Between creating blog content, working on a cookbook deal, and the day to day life stuff, I feel like the best visual representation of myself is somewhere between the exhausted and skeleton emoji.  

But I really can’t complain because all of this; all of this awesome expansive busy-ness are dreams of my own creation. 

I wrote “I published a cookbook” in my manifestation journal over and over and over. 

Every single day in 2020 until in fall it finally came to fruition and I forwarded the acceptance email to M with big capital letters that read, “THIS IS SO EXCITING.” 

I’m trying to access and harness that initial wonder and excitement in this busy season of overwhelm.  

I don’t think you’ll have *any* trouble harnessing wonder and excitement when it comes to my latest recipe today.

It may be crunch time for me, but it’s munch time for you.

These Almond Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars are entirely n0-bake with TWO layers of vegan and gluten-free deliciousness. 

Let’s make cookie bars! 

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