Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp ground chia seeds
6 Tbsp warm water
1 cup all purpose flour
1.5 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup non dairy chocolate chips 

In a small bowl, mix the ground Chia seeds and the water together. Set aside. 

Cream together the peanut butter, coconut oil, vegan margarine and sugar in a large bowl. Once smooth and a little fluffy, add in the maple syrup, chia mixture and vanilla. Mix to combine. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the chocolate chips. 

A bit at a time, add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix until it is thoroughly combined. Roll dough into balls approximately 1.5 inches in diameter, and place on parchment lines cookie sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a cup or fork until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 375 for about 13 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let sure for about 5 minutes before transferring. Store in an airtight container. 

Farro Chickpea Veggie Burgers

Veggie Burgers- using farro

I recently picked up a bag of farro, and I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I decided to make some veggie burgers yesterday, and figured that would be a good way to use it. I basically took my previous recipe and just tweaked it a bit.

You will need:

2 cups cooked Farro (cooked in veggie stock)
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup walnut halves
3.5 cups finely chopped mushrooms (raw measure)
3/4 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 + tsp sea salt

Cook farro according to instructions on the package. For me, I cooked 2 cups farro with 3 cups veggie stock, then drained the excess liquid once it was cooked. This will make about 2.5 cups.

Pulse the walnuts in the food processor a few times until they are fairly finely ground. Set aside.

Next, pulse the chickpeas a couple of times so that they are broken down slightly, but not so much that they are the consistency of hummus!!  Set aside.

Next, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil, and saute the onions and mushrooms until soft. Add a pinch of salt to season. Once all the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, add in the walnut crumbs and cook for a couple minutes.

In the food processor, combine half the mushroom/onion/walnut mixture, half the chickpeas and half of the cooked farro. Place the other half of all these ingredients in a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil, 2 Tbsp of tamari, 1 Tbsp of maple syrup,  and puree until you get a somewhat smooth paste.

Add the contents of the food processor to the large bowl and add in the nutritional yeast, panko, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano and salt. Mix together and if the mixture seems too wet, add in some extra panko as needed. Add extra salt if needed. My chickpeas were canne and had salt, so if you are using salt free chickpeas, you may need a little more.

Preheat oven to 375.

Form into balls approximately 2" in diameter and flatten into a patty about 1/2 -3/4 " in diameter ( should make 12 patties). Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for 16 minutes. Flip over carefully and bake another 16 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing. They will be a little fragile, but should get less fragile as they cool.