It’s Wednesday. #WellnessWednesday … It was 78 degrees and I didn’t wear a coat. It was 78 degrees until it was pouring down rain as I jumped through puddles picking up my Panera takeout…
Curly hair is a blessing and curse. It loves the rain and one drop is all it takes.
A few months ago, I realized how much I love aesthetics. Collecting pretty things is actually a hobby. Being an English major and a reader for as long as I can remember, I never considered myself a “visual learner.” But, dear god, I am a visual person. A visionary, perhaps? Toot toot. (That was me tooting my own gilded horn.)
My “visions” are so clear it’s actually funny. Since I started sharing more of these visions I noticed how uncommon a trait it really is. Sometimes I just get flashes of brilliance and see a moment unfolding. Other times, a friend will start a bit and I suddenly see a grand scene. Now, these are highly-detailed visions. They are specific and strong.
Quite the tangent I could go wandering off on. My point is I love pretty things because they speak to me so personally. Branding, fonts, colors, all types of fashion. Having fresh flowers, or seeing a rainbow, immediately sinks into my soul and makes me happy. I can pick that little, tiny view from my memory whenever necessary.
I guess my main point is that visuals, aesthetics, PYTs, all get me in peak state. BELIEVING IS SEEING, BUT SEEING IS FEELING. That “seeing” doesn’t have to be in the physical world. I see stuff in my mind all the time and then Whoop! There it is. It happens IRL.
I choose to surround myself with beauty because that’s what I prefer to look at. The beauty can be super tiny and it’s personal to me. For example, I bet not everyone loves the sight of rainbow sprinkles as much as I do. I made some cacao dipping sauce for my protein mug cake this morning and just knew the sprinkles were necessary.
Now on to something more palatable. Wink, wink.
I’m the Goldilocks of baking. It needs to be juuuuusstt right for me to pick a recipe.
I decided to make up my own recipe again because I can never seem to find one that suits all my needs. It is my dad’s birthday tomorrow and he’s a tough one. He doesn’t eat chocolate and likes something decently healthy. I wanted something coconut and didn’t feel like buying weird/terrible ingredients to make conventional cookies. No dice. I took a paleo recipe with chocolate chips and substituted the heck out of it.
Coconut flour is a different beast so be prepared for these to be unlike your regular cookies. It soaks up liquid like crazy so your batter will be a strange texture. Once baked, they will be a little crumbly.
Pretty little babies, hanging out on the cooling rack. They weren’t easy to make uniform but that was the least of my worries.
The recipe said they make 12 so that’s how I split up the batter. Now, I have munchkin hands, but I think they’re a great size. Not huge like you feel like you’re eating a frisbee but not one-biters either.
Up close and personal. Blurry toasted coconut flakes.
I do not plan on serving the cookies to my father with my Barbie mug full of coffee. Obviously, I sampled one though, for my art’s sake.
Recipe: Coconut Macadamia Cookies (Paleo and GF)
Adapted from this version.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/4 cup organic, cold-pressed virgin coconut oil – melted
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Grease a baking tray or line it with baking paper. (I’m obsessed with my Silpat.)
- Whisk the eggs with the vanilla extract.
- Mix coconut oil, honey, together thoroughly with a whisk.
- Add in coconut flour and salt.
- Continue whisking until flour soaks up the moisture from wet ingredients.
- Add in macadamia nuts and coconut flakes. Evenly distribute throughout the cookie dough.
- Using a spoon or your hands, (I’m a hands-on kind of girl.) shape into your desired cookie form.
- Place your cookies into the center of the oven and bake for around 10-15 minutes. (Mine took exactly 15 min. but keep an eye on them.)
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Store in airtight container.
If anyone tries them out let me know!
~Whitney Victoria