Trail Cookies
These cookies are super customizable. I developed them as a hiking snack, so they’re calorie- and nutrient-dense. Use my mix-ins as a guideline for quantities, but use your own favorite trail mix ingredients to put a personal twist on the recipe!
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325F. Toast almonds for 12 minutes. Add pumpkin seeds and continue roasting for 9 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Don’t be alarmed if the almonds start “popping” as they cool! Increase oven temp to 350F.
Combine ground flax and water and set aside to gel into a “flax egg.”
Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and cream together, at least one minute on medium speed if using an electric mixer. Add remaining wet ingredients (don’t forget the flax egg!) and mix, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
Mix dry ingredients into wet, switching to spatula as necessary. Add mix-ins and continue to fold dough together with a spatula, being sure not to leave any unhydrated pockets of dry ingredients.
Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper, silicone baking mats, or nonstick spray.
Use an ice cream scooper or set of spoons to form uniform balls of dough, dropping each onto the cookie sheets and pressing slightly to flatten. These cookies don’t spread much at all while baking, so feel free to crowd them a little more than usual on the pans.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. You’ll know they’re done when the edges are golden brown and the tops feel dry to the touch.
Allow to cool at least 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then optionally transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Ingredients
Dry
½ C + 2 T (150 g) all-purpose flour
⅔ C (66 g) quick or instant oats
½ C (40 g) rolled oats
¼ t baking soda
¼ t baking powder
¼ t salt (omit if using Earth Balance butter)
1 t cinnamon
½ t cardamom
Wet
1.5 T (10 g) ground flaxseed
3 T (45 mL) water
½ C vegan butter, slightly softened
½ C (100 g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 t vanilla or vanilla-citrus extract
½ t almond extract
Zest of 1 orange
1 T orange juice
Mix-Ins
⅓ C whole raw almonds
¼ C raw pumpkin seeds
½ C dried sweetened cranberries
