A raw, vegan, gluten-free cookie reminiscent of a peanut butter pattie. The soft, peanut butter center contains peanut butter, almonds, oats and dates, and the outer shell is nothing but rich dark chocolate.
Add your oats to the food processor and mix until small pieces remain. Then add dates and process again until only small bits remain. Remove from processor and set aside.
Next add almonds and peanuts to the food processor and mix until they turn to meal - a few small chunks are OK.
Next add peanut butter to the nut meal and pulse until well combined. Then add dates and oats and process until the mixture forms a loose dough. If it seems too wet to handle, add more oats. If it seems too dry, add a few more dates.
Scoop out small handfuls of dough and form into small discs. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and pop in the freezer to harden for 30 minutes.
Around the 25-minute mark, melt your dark chocolate over a double boiler. Then work in small batches to coat the cookies. Take only 5 cookies out of the freezer at a time for dipping.
To dip, drop cookies one at a time into the chocolate, flip once, pick up with a fork and tap on the rim of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place back on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop back in the freezer to set.
Repeat until all cookies are dipped, re-warming chocolate as needed.
For optimum freshness, store cookies in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer until serving.
Notes
*Truly raw foods should not be heated over 118°F, 42°C. To keep these completely raw, use raw (unroasted) nut butter (I only had roasted on hand) and do not heat your chocolate over that temperature. For those less stringent on the raw food principle, roasted is fine and the flavor will be great either way. *Nutrition information is a rough estimate.