Monumental rainfall followed by stifling heat means mosquitos. Of course here, it doesn’t just mean common or garden mosquitos, it means huge, mutant reprobates with an agenda: namely to make me look as if I’m suffering from a very nasty infectious disease. And as if a nasty infectious disease isn’t punishment enough, I’m also covered in bruises from walking around the house in the dark because I’m too scared to put the lights on.
Léo is injured too and has his arm in a sling (something to do with walls, daredevilry and being a ten-year-old boy). Since his skateboarding tricks are somewhat impeded, he decided we should make chocolate chip cookies; I decided that they should be reasonably healthy and this is what we came up with.
Ingredients (makes 25-30 cookies)
125g spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
65g virgin coconut oil
75g cane sugar
40g organic chocolate chips
15g chopped hazelnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the coconut oil until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, chocolate chips and nuts. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until the mixture becomes a stiff dough. Knead the mixture on a floured surface and roll into a sausage shape, roughly 5cm thick. Refrigerate for several hours or even overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut the dough into slices of just under a centimetre and arrange, spaced out (the cookies, not you ;-)) on a greased baking sheet. Cook for 12 minutes and leave to cool.
The Healthy Epicurean 
These cookies sound beautiful (definitely very healthy!). Did they pass the Léo test? Sorry to hear that you’re both ‘injured’ (you by mutant mosquitos and Léo by a wall, haha). We get lots of mozzies here too but they tend to only lead to small bites, not ginormous ones. I do tend to attract mosquitoes though. My friends always joke that when I’m around, they’re safe as the mosquitoes gravitate towards me! I read somewhere that they’re attracted to people who eat lots of bananas as it enriches the blood. I have no idea if that’s true though!! Thanks for this lovely recipe!
I’ve never heard that about bananas – maybe mozzies are potassium-deficient? 😉 I too am a total magnet – everyone else is safe if I’m there.
Cookies sound look tasty.
Mosquitos are on steroids, in the Rhine Valley, and a bite is vicious. We have to have hanging screens over the doors to the garden and all windows. After several years of summer suffering, and using every lotion known to pharmacologists worldwide, I found a simple remedy for a bite: brush vigorously with a hand brush and a bar of soap. I drag the bristles across the soap and then brush on the itch. The itching will stop almost immediately. If the bite is particularly nasty, I leave the soap on and don’t rinse it off. You may have to repeat it later in the day, but it relieves the itching. Scented soaps don’t seem to work as good as a simple soap, like Ivory.
As for keeping the lights off at night, I wish. I could hide in the broom closet and their scouts will find me.
If he can think of cookies, then Léo’s shoulder must be on the mend, which is a good thing.
Thanks for that tip KJ – I certainly have lots of scope for testing it out! Léo’s shoulder is a bit better – he’s back at school today with STRICT instruction to stick to terra firma. Loving the broom closet allusion 😀
Hahahaa, yes maybe they are! And I guess they can’t use their inbuilt straw on bananas 🙂
Yum yum! It’s raining here today and am about to make these. Good work healthy epicurean.
Great Lucie! I hope you like them (and M & M). Let me know what you think…
Mutant mosquitoes, LOL, we have the same buggers here, hungry, vicious blood suckers. The cookies are lovely, healthful and indulgent at the same time. Sorry for both you and Leo, hope you both recover quickly.
Vicious blood suckers is exactly what they are. Grrrrrrr. Thank you for your recovery wishes – I think we’re on the mend…
Healthy cookies, yuuuum! Can’t wait to start trying out spelt flour in my baking, your recipes are all truly inspiration! Poor you and Leo, ouch on both counts. I’m one of those annoying people who has unappealing blood to a mozzie….rarely get a nibble.
Have you managed to find some spelt flour yet? Lucky lucky you being unappealing to mozzies – I only wish I was 😦
I haven’t found any yet in France, but did do in England…and seeing as we’ll be back there in a few weeks (eek) I haven’t bothered to be honest!
Back for hols or back for good?
For good….for now anyway! Fingers crossed keeping the house though, so who knows what the future holds….
Wow! I bet you’ll miss the view 😉
These are a huge success – very delicious. Thank you!
I’m glad you like them – and they’re so quick and easy (oooerrrrr ;))
Cookies look tempting! As for Mosquitos, we have an annual fest here every summer!
Sorry to hear that they bug you too. Thank you for reading! 🙂
I hope you guys both get better! I bet those cookies helped 🙂
Thank you 🙂 We’re both on the mend and you’re right – the cookies definitely helped!
Ha ha, I had a nice belly laugh when reading the wonderful title. Brilliant. Mosquitos suck (no pun intended) (and love how Laura calls them mozzies, never heard that before) but I can live with their bite if only they didn’t make that horribly scary buzzing ruccus. Anyhow, hope this moat/mosquito/moist/bruised season will be behind you very soon.
The cookies look wonderful!
Ha ha! Mozzies certainly do suck!
This recipe sounds totally delicious. I definitely have to try it.
Thank you. I do hope you love them as much as we do if you try the recipe – let me know what you think… 🙂
You had me at healthy chocolate chip cookie 😉 The addition of hazelnuts sounds great!
😀
Healthy cookies? Can it be true? I am sold! xx
Keep coming back to this! Huge hit in our house.
They are here too – the only trouble is they disappear too quickly!