I wish I had the time to be a part of all the linky parties, food bloggers clubs, cookbook clubs, and challenges, but time seems to be scarce, especially this time of year.
I seem to only have time for two foodie clubs: Cook the Books and Secret Recipe Club. I am committed to them both. Cook the Books is a great literary foodie club. (Check out the current book selection.) And I absolutely LOVE SRC.
With time at a minimum, it is hard to check out new sites and bloggers. SRC, hosted by Amanda, Angela, Tami, and Tina, is a great way to expand your foodie horizons and meet different bloggers. The premise is that you will be assigned a “secret pal,” you explore your new friend’s site, and then secretly bake or cook away with one of your new pal’s recipes. I have had great experiences in my previous assignments.
This month’s secret pal was no different. deli-cute-essen is hosted by Devon who is a “foodie and maker of cute things.” This blog is full of vegan delights and definitely cute things!
We are definitely not vegan, but we do eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I don’t shy away from vegan recipes, and if I have the products on hand, I will go ahead and try a “veganized” recipe. I read Devon’s posts with an eye for something that could fit into my Gifts from the Kitchen posts this month. I found the perfect recipe in her Trail Mix Cookies.
Devon’s recipe calls for Earth Balance, egg replacer, and soy milk. Having none of these on hand I swapped in creamy peanut butter, farm fresh eggs, and 2% organic milk. (Since winter is here and the farmers markets are on vacation until spring, I have tried to use organic products until I can get back to local!)
Trail Mix Cookies
1 c. creamy peanut butter
3/4 c. organic pure cane sugar
2 farm fresh eggs
1/3 c. 2% organic milk
1 T. pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. organic whole wheat pastry flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. fine sea salt
1 T. cinnamon
1 c. milk chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli.)
4.5 oz. dried tart cherries
3/4 c. sliced almonds
3/4 c. roasted/no salt sunflower seedsIn a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together peanut butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla and continue to mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk together oats and dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to peanut butter mixture. Carefully beat to incorporated. Add chocolate chips, cherries, almonds and sunflower seeds. The batter will be fairly dry.
Use a cookie scoop to make packed balls. Place cookies on a prepared cookie sheet. Lightly press each ball to flatten a bit. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.
Cool on cookie sheets slightly before removing to wire racks. Once cool, store in airtight container.
I also added a bit more peanut butter and one more egg to Devon’s original recipe. My batter seemed a bit too crumbly. (I only had whole wheat pastry flour on hand, but I am sure regular whole wheat flour would work fine.)
This recipe makes about three dozen medium cookies.
These cookies smell delicious while baking. Devon’s original recipe is quite versatile. She does not specify and just calls for dried fruit, nuts, and seeds. I can see this cookie with pecans and dried blueberries, walnuts and dried raisins, coconut and dried mangoes—the possibilities are endless.
Keeping with the Gift from the Kitchen theme this month, place cookies in a cellophane bag, pair cookies with a reusable water bottle, and you have the perfect gift for a fit friend (or for a friend planning on healthy New Year’s resolutions). 
For more ideas for the holidays, check out my other Gifts from the Kitchen posts or explore last year’s Twelve Days of Christmas Treats. To keep up to date, please subscribe below.
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And, be sure to check out the rest of the SRC posts for this reveal.
These cookies do look like the perfect thing to bring and snack on when hiking or camping. All those whole grains do have some staying power, so you will not be hungry for awhile after eating a few of these. The chocolate, cherries and nuts are the right ingredients to give these some delicious flavor. Glad that you pulled this one out for SRC-yum!
When I bake cookies most of the year this is the kind of recipe I go for. I always have dried fruits and nuts on hand and it’s fun to experiment with different combinations. I miss my farmers’ market too. It’s a long time to Spring when they open up again.
Visiting from SRC…..but so glad you stopped by my blog so I found you faster. Can’t wait to check out your blog. Love it! 🙂
I actually have been looking for something my hubby can take along when he goes skiing. This is the best use of trail mix I’ve seen in awhile!
Peanut butter and oats?? How can you go wrong! Love the combo here.
Hope you are enjoying your beginning of Christmas Vacation! We still have one more week till school gets out, and I’m very much looking forward to a few weeks of no alarm to wake up to.
Thanks also for putting in the link to Cook the Books. I think I just may join you!
What a great idea! Love these
Oh my goodness gracious. Those cookies look like heaven. YUM YUM and more YUMS.. Wishing you a very happy holiday Elliot.
How fabulous that you found double duty with your recipe…a great SRC post and a lovely holiday gift! I’m all about cookies, so these look great!
It’s so easy to get over extended on all the wonderful baking and cooking clubs online! So it’s nice that you’ve really committed yourself to two. These cookies look fabulous! What a great combination of flavors going on. And putting them in a water bottle as a gift is just brilliant! Great post! : )
Delish! These look and sound amazing. Glad to be part of SRC group C with you. Happy Holidays!!
Great post and very cool water bottle! Thanks for stopping by Foodness Gracious and have a great holiday time.
Totally cute pairing the trail mix cookies with a water bottle! I am in love with that gift idea…prepare for me to steal it next year 🙂
What a delicious treat and such a nice gift! Pairing it with the water bottle is brilliant! I’m a HUGE fan of the SRC and I’m on the waiting list….biting my nails for the day I can join!
These look delicious! The perfect combination of healthy and indulgent 🙂
These look so good! I love that they are wholesome and have some healthy(er) ingredients. Great pick!
Eliot – I am glad you got my blog this time around and I love what you choose. These cookies are a staple but I LOVE the idea of adding peanut butter into them. And really great gift idea paired with the water bottle. Awesome! Happy Holidays.
Those cookies look very good. I may have to add them to the cookies I make for christmas. We will forget that they are remotely healthy.
These cookies look good, and I like anything with oats (healthy!), adding peanut butter sounds delicious.., thank you for visiting me.., lovely gift idea, its great to be with you in SRC
These look so good–I like my cookies to be full of crunchy, chewy bits!