LUNCHBOX COOKIES with Chilean Guava (NZ Cranberries)

Chilean Guava & Chocolate Lunchbox Cookies

I make a variation of these cookies most weeks for school lunches. Usually I add chopped dried apricots but this week I experimented with adding some Chilean guavas we picked from my Dad's garden. Because the flesh is on the dry side they worked perfectly in the cookie dough adding a lovely aromatic flavour which I complimented with a sprinkle of finely chopped rosemary from the garden. They are a little fancy for everyday school lunches but my kids certainly approved by sneakily eating half of the first batch I made while they were cooling - you know they are up to no good when it all goes suspiciously quiet! If dairy, is OK butter can also be used in place of the peanut/nut butter.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup dates chopped
• 1 free-range egg
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter or another nut/seed butter
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/2 cup ground almonds or oat flour*
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds or whole chia seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 50 g quality dark chocolate min. 70%, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup Chilean guavas dried cranberries or chopped dried apricots
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the chopped dates into a small sieve and rinse with 1 cup boiling water to soften the dates. Set over a bowl to drain for several minutes.
• Place the dates, egg, peanut butter, coconut, almond flour, flaxseeds or chia seeds, baking powder and salt into a food processor and pulse 6 times to combine. Scrape down the sides and pulse 6 more times until the mixture comes together. Tip into a mixing bowl and add the chocolate and guavas. Use a spatula to combine.
• Roll the cookie mixture into walnut-sized balls and arrange evenly on a lined baking tray. Press down with your fingers to slightly squash the balls. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a cake rack. Store in an airtight container and consume within 5 days.

Notes

*To make these cookies nut-free for school lunches replace the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter and the ground almonds with oat flour. I love using oat flour in baking as part of the flour component to add a tender crumb. I make it myself by simply blending rolled oats as needed in a coffee/spice grinder until finely ground into a soft flour.

I was asked recently in an interview how much time I spend in the garden each week. I flippantly replied around 1-2 hours. Afterwards I thought some more about this, had I been overzealous with my estimation? Surely I must spend more time each week than the length of a movie growing the majority of the fresh produce we eat? And yes, some weeks it would certainly be more, particularly during summer and autumn, while other weeks very little beyond a quick weeding while I am harvesting for dinner. On average, spread throughout the year, around 1-2 hours a week is about right.

But I did ponder how I have simplified my gardening over the decade I have been growing in this garden. I know what grows well in my cooler garden and I mostly stick to that – herbs, silver beet, spinach, salad, brassica, celery, peas, beans, carrots, beetroot, onions and garlic + recently tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies in the glasshouse. When I weed, unless it is a weed I don’t want in the garden (convolvulus and oxalis I’m talking about you), I simply pull it out upturn the roots and leave it right there on the garden bed to decompose into the soil. In winter I rest most of the heavy producing summer garden under a green crop to add nutrition to the soil while also preventing weeds taking over. Keep it simple.

Gardening does take time but on reflection it is less time than I actually thought. And the more you do it the more you learn, and I suppose the easier it becomes. And then just when you think you’ve got it sussed a new summer arrives completely different to the last summer and everything is new again! Happy autumn gardening, it really is a lovely time of year to BE in the garden, not too hot nor cold, and the soil is wonderfully hydrated from the recent rains.

The cookies I share here were inspired by my Dad and his wife’s garden that we visit most weeks. This time of year their 1-acre property is a garden of eden literally dripping with fruit in their semi-subtropical location. It is interesting to see how different a garden mere kilometers away from our own can be. Including a hedge of sweet and aromatic Chilean guavas that my children contentedly sit under and eat to their heart’s content. In between mouthfuls I managed to get a few handfuls into a bag to bring home to add to our weekly batch of lunchbox cookies.

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