Healthy Samoa Cookies

– Vegan – Gluten free – Oil free –

A classic Girl Scout cookie, made healthy! With a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie, a coconut caramel filling, and topped with dark chocolate. This recipe makes 15 cookies.

To make the shortbread cookie for these samoas, you will need:

• Almond flour: a healthy, gluten-free alternative to grain-based flours. It is void of refined carbs and lower calories. Therefore, it is also a great alternative for those trying to lose weight.
• Coconut oil: a good alternative to vegetable/soy oil as it is loaded with healthy fats that form a unique combination of fatty acids that help improve brain function. The fatty acids in coconut oil will help to increase HDL cholesterol levels and lower LDL cholesterol levels when compared to other oils. Beneficial for hair, skin and nails.
• Agave nectar: a low-glycemic natural sweetener. While honey, maple syrup and table sugar have a glycemic index of 50 or higher, agave is closer to 20. Although high glycemic foods aren’t necessarily bad for you (pineapple has a GI of 70), they will cause a larger insulin spike, leading to temporarily higher blood glucose levels. People with high blood sugar may want to limit high glycemic foods. Agave should still be used sparingly, since it is high in natural sugar (fructose).
• Vanilla extract: I recommend choosing a higher quality vanilla extract, as cheap vanilla extract often has artificial flavors and caramel coloring that disrupts digestive health. Stay away from extract that has propylene glycol, which is essentially just antifreeze. Pure vanilla extract is actually a great antioxidant and can reduce inflammation.

To make the coconut caramel topping, you will need:

• Medjool dates, pitted: a naturally sweet fruit that tastes like caramel and has the consistency of caramel when blended with coconut milk. Like most fruit, dates are a healthy source of carbs and fiber and can fix your sweet tooth without breaking your diet.
• Coconut milk: a good source of healthy fats and a great alternative to cow’s milk, which contains unnecessary added sugar.
• Coconut flakes: buy coconut flakes that are unsweetened, therefore free from refined sugars. Unsweetened coconut flakes are already sweet, yet fairly flavorless so they are a great food to add to your favorite recipes for a good source of healthy fats. Coconut flakes are also a good source of fiber and potassium.
• Dairy-free dark chocolate (organic): although normally brought up with negative connotations, dark chocolate in moderation has many health benefits, as it is loaded with minerals. Just 2 ounces (1/3 cup) provides 100% of your daily copper intake, 37% of your iron, 42% of your magnesium, 61% of your manganese, 25% of your phosphorus, 23% of your zinc and 16% of your potassium. Not many other foods can boast this many minerals! There are also many dairy-free dark chocolate options for vegans. I recommend buying high quality, organic dark chocolate that is free from vegetable oils and artificial colors & flavors that disturb the digestive system. Furthermore, look for chocolate that is made with cacao rather than cocoa, since cacao is richer in magnesium, iron, potassium and calcium. For this recipe, I used dark chocolate made with 72% cacao. Anything above 70% cacao will provide you with the healthful benefits in chocolate. Remember to check the serving size of your chocolate, as very little is needed to get its benefits and over-consuming is not good for health.

For this recipe, you will also need:

A high-speed blender

Cupcake pan

Cupcake tins (optional)

[mpprecipe-recipe:18]