Pecan Almond Raisin Cookies

Warning, if you are one of those that needs exact measurements down to the smallest iota, you are going to be frustrated; sorry!

For days and days, my older son Gryffin - 6 - has been begging me to make cookies. What he really wanted was to know the recipe so that he can do it himself whenever he wants... and so I resisted. Yep, I dug in my heels, and practically refused to cooperate. I'm obstinate like that.
Today, he begged and begged, and my last nerve was wearing thin. 
Gryffin: "Mama, can we make cookies NOW?"
Me: "You have  two choices; you can go out side, or you can go to your room."
Gryffin: "COOKIES!!!!!"
I gave a long suffering sigh, and caved in. "Fine..."

Aside from not wanting my boys to have sugar except for on special occasions and when the mood strikes me, I am also trying to be as grain free as possible. This means that I technically have, and could just make a batch of cookies using flour, either organic stone ground wheat or oat flour, OR gluten and grain free coconut flour, BUT... I kinda like nut flours AKA ground nuts. They give the cookie a unique texture, and are actually easier to work with than one might think.


knowing that Gryffin wanted to be the one to make the cookies, I handed him a bowl, and grabbed a carton of eggs out of the fridge. Gryffin and Phoenix got busy arguing over who got to crack the eggs, so I handed each an egg, and then when those eggs got into the bowl, and the small mess cleaned up off the floor, I handed them each another egg. Once those two were in the bowl, I asked them to pick out the bigger pieces of shell, and ignored the tiny bits.


I handed Gryffin a fork, and asked him to stir the eggs, and after showing him how, he was doing a decent job. I added milk to the eggs; I have no idea how much, but if I had to guess... about a cup or less. Maybe closer to half. I poured it in until it looked right to me. I had Gryffin continue to stir, and plopped in the butter I had softened on the counter. About 3/4ths a stick. Then, I took out my baggie containing the partially used bags of ground pecans and almonds. There was half of the pecan bag left, and about 1/3 of the almond bag remaining. Both bags were originally 10 oz. I added half of each bag. 


Next, I added a generous splash of vanilla to the batter, and some maple syrup to mellow out the bite of genuine vanilla extract. Raisins went into the batter to give it a soft and chewy texture even if I over bake it.


I noticed that the batter was too runny, but would have made good pancakes at this point, so I added the rest of both the pecan and the almond flour. This made the batter just shy of the perfect consistency, and would have to do. I took over stirring for a bit to make sure it was all thoroughly mixed, and then plopped forkfuls onto a sheet of tin foil in my toaster oven. I smushed each blob with the fork, and baked them at 425 for about 25 minutes, give or take a few. This is my toaster oven's equivalent of 350-400 in a regular oven for about the same amount of time.


The final result was 2 dozen and 9 cookies, and they were almost perfect. Somewhat hard and crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside. My boys have already discussed how to make them all disappear without me noticing, lol! So I think I may need to hide them, lol.


NOTE: I made these a bit on the not so sweet side, though they were plenty sweet in my book. If anyone tries this recipe, and it does not seem sweet enough, feel free to add more maple syrup, honey, or even some sugar.


OH AND if you do try making these, let me know how they turned out, and what you think of them.


Lastly, I bought the ground pecans and almonds (non organic, darn!) for about 2 bucks each at Mills Fleet farm, but I have seem them at Walmart and other places such as the grocery store.


Have a happy day!

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