After a morning hike with friends and an emotional interaction with my child after school (I’ll blame pre-teen but it’s life long), I was desperate for glucose to feed my tired brain and give me a little dopamine bliss.
So, although the real issue is that I was/am probably dehydrated, I prefer telling myself the story that my body is just in dire need of glucose. You know the brain is only 2% of our body but uses 20% of our energy and the brain loves glucose for energy.
Yes, drinking water and then eating veggies, potatoes and beans would have been the correct answer to my brain’s call for glucose, if we are sticking with the story that my brain “needed” a rush of glucose. But no. What I need is more of a drug like rapid satisfaction and sugar hit.
Having exterminated virtually all the processed food in our house, I was forced to get creative.
I assembled the last of the calorie dense foods remaining in my kitchen and concocted the most delicious cookies, which I proceeded to eat until slightly too full (the opposite of hara hachi bu).
Did my brain feel less tired? No!
Did I bliss out from dopamine? No!
Did my brain lie to me, again? YES!
Do I feel a little ill and wished I had eaten the “correct” meal? Yes.
Dang it. I’m always falling for the con artist part of my brain that says, “Sugar and flour will make you feel SO much happier, energized, smarter, and more beautiful. You need to get a bunch and STAT!”
When it doesn’t work, do you think I stop listening to that con-artist? Nope. I rationalize, “The sugar just needed to be more pure. All that fiber must have blocked some of my bliss.”
If your con-artist isn’t as easily swayed, you can tell it that these cookies are essentially just little pancakes and they are vegan and they barely have any sugar and the sugar is maple syrup and they have fiber.
I call them Vegan Pancake Cookies because they are basically my vegan pancake recipe with a few adjustments (raisins and ginger have never made it into my pancakes). I could throw together the ingredients without measuring because I’ve made vegan pancakes many times.
Measurements listed below are approximate guesses as to how much I used, as the only thing I actually measured was the baking powder. I used the last little bit of maple syrup, all the ripe bananas and the remainder of the tub of raisins. Use what you have.
BTW… pancakes totally do not need eggs or flax sub to make them fluffy or bind together and apparently, neither do cookies.
pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
mix dry ingredients
1-2 c flour*
1 tbsp baking powder
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp vanilla bean powder (or add liquid vanilla to wet ingredients)
mix wet ingredients
3 ripe bananas, mashed with a drink muddler
1/8 c maple syrup
1/8 c oatmilk**
mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients
mixture should be thick and sticky
add flour or oat milk to adjust
1-2 c raisins mixed into batter
* My con-artist would like to make a note that maybe chocolate chips, instead of raisins, would have been the ticket to send me into sugar bliss. Good thing/too bad that I didn’t have any.
use small ice cream scoop to make dolops on parchment paper
bake until brown
cool on a rack
eat until gone/too full/sugar’d out
*I used both organic whole wheat (we grind our own! I also use a shampoo bar but don’t make my own) and white einkorn flour from jovial but use whatever you have… wheat, oat, almond, etc. Flour, sugar, cocaine are all white powdery processed drugs. I’m hooked on two and will never try the third, as the first two are difficult enough to quit. Hello… this recipe… for dinner!
**The oatmilk that we use for our coffee (so many addictions) is the organic unsweetened Sown. It’s the best!
Jen Grauer 