Every now and then I do something silly for the love of cookies. If you read my going raw story, you know that my mom called me the cookie monster when I was growing up.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Temptations

This story starts a few days ago, when my grandmother brought over some chocolate chip cookies that she baked. We’re next door neighbors, so this kind of thing happens quite a bit. Especially since my grandfather is in the hospital and she can’t eat all the food she prepares.

Photo by Hannah Webster

So, there were chocolate chip cookies on the counter in my kitchen for a few days. I resisted the temptation, mostly by moving the cookies to a corner that I don’t go to very often.

Eventually all the cookies were eaten by my family members. I thought I had reached a safe harbor. Except, that in my mind I kept having this picture of me making home made cookies in the oven as a kid.

My favorite homemade cookies were oatmeal cookies. Now, I didn’t want to follow the recipes that I used to follow, because of all the sugar, and non-vegan ingredients.

A Raw Experiment: Baking in the Raw?!

So the thought of baking cookies stayed in my head for a few days. Until this morning, I woke up with a feeling of determination about trying to make healthy baked cookies. I don’t want to ruin the story for you, but let’s just say my experiment wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped.

I blended a banana and a pear, along with some almond milk, some dates, some vanilla, and spices. I figured I should put something “traditional” to make it bake, so I added baking soda, and some olive oil.

Then I mixed in some oats, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and raisins. I put these in the oven in little cookie shapes and waited to see what would happen. Somehow, a little voice inside of me told me that it would taste better if I put them in the dehydrator. But I was really going for that “warm gooey home made cookie” feeling I had as a child.

When I took the cookies out of the oven, they looked and smelled really good. Unfortunately, the texture was a little like mushy sponges. Not that I’m against sponges or anything, but I think the dehydrator might have done a better job. ;)

The Moral of The Story

Photo by Lali Masriera

When you’re craving something, it’s perfectly okay to indulge yourself! I mean, if I hadn’t tried to make these almost-raw-vegan cookies in the oven, I never would have known that they wouldn’t turn out. (Edit: My family thinks the cookies are pretty good, so it’s not a waste!)

Oh, and another moral… place the dehydrator in an easy to access spot (not in the back of the closet) so that when a hankering for raw cookies hits you, you can just put them in and forget about it.

So there you have it. Raw girl tries to bake raw cookies in the oven, and decides to go back to smoothies and dehydrated snacks. For now.

I don’t believe in labels, and if you see the words “raw food” here a lot its because I eat a predominately raw diet, but sometimes I have human moments. (Oh, and search engines like labels, so there you have it.) I’m sure you have human moments too. :)