Christi’s Creative Nut Cookies

A Forgotten Voice

I have been a writer all my life.  Even before I could actually form the letters myself I would tell stories to my Dad and ask him to write them down for me.  They weren’t exactly literary treasures but, in those days, I never doubted the authenticity of my creative spirit.

As I grew older something happened and those stories began to fade. No longer convinced that my stories were worth sharing my voice was hushed and I let it grow cold with hardly a thought to rekindle it. Then a friend convinced me to take a Wildfire Writing workshop from my now good friend and writing coach, Christi Krug.

Starting a Fire

Christi’s workshop reminded me of the silent writer still inside and offered me the tools to ignite that voice again. Over five years and 400 blog posts later, I am still writing and expressing my creative voice through a variety of media.

Now Christi has woven those tools into a new book,Burn Wild: A Writer’s Guide to Creative Breakthrough. In her book she offers warm encouragement as well as short exercises, or Sparks, to help rekindle those creative fires and break through obstacles that commonly challenge a creative life.

 And Baking some Cookies

While Christi is a successful author and teacher her creative interests are not limited to writing alone. I love that in the midst of the excitement of launching a new book she thought not only of making cookies but of sharing them across the miles through a guest post:

Christi’s Recipe: As a highly creative person, I love to bake things I can experiment with, finding new flavor combinations and texture possibilities. Yet as a writer and writing coach, I don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Further, being gluten sensitive narrows my choices. However, I’ve found the perfect base cookie recipe that is gluten-free, quick, easy, delicious, and allows for plenty of experimentation.
Lesson: there is always a way to indulge your creative freedom, and your sweet tooth, if you’re willing to put forth positive intentions. 

The basic recipe is simple:

Christi’s Creative Nut Cookies

From Christi Krug’s Creative Kitchen

1 Cup Nut Butter

1 egg

¾ Cup Sugar 

Bake at 300 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes

Hint: parchment paper makes for easier separation.

Sweetness hint: Increase or decrease sugar depending on preference.

Now here are the fun ways I mix things up:

Nut Butters

• Tahini (sesame) butter
• ½ cup Tahini and ½ cup peanut butter
• Chunky peanut butter
• Ground hazelnuts
• Ground almonds
• Ground cashews

Flavorings

• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond flavoring

Sweeteners

• organic cane sugar
• agave syrup
• honey

(add more dry ingredients if using liquid sweetener)

Add-ins

• lemon zest
• orange zest
• raspberry jam
  centers
• chocolate or white
  chocolate chips
• chopped nuts 
• shredded coconut
• sesame seeds

Lisa’s Notes:  When I first saw Christi’s recipe I had to smile.  I actually had that recipe, in it’s most basic form, written on an old sticky note in plain sight. I must have asked her for it long ago but, as so often happens, I had put off actually trying it for ages.

Finally trying it for myself, I started with:

• ¾ cup all-natural peanut
  butter
• ¼ cup tahini
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ cup turbinado sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

I mixed the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until well combined and used a 1¼-inch cookie scoop to form the dough into Tablespoon-sized balls of dough placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
I flattened the dough slightly with a fork before placing them in the oven
to bake 15 minutes at 300F.

Now that I have tried them, I really don’t know what I was waiting for.   They are simple, healthful, gluten-free, inspiring ……and best of all, delicious! These cookies have big peanut butter cookie taste with just a hint of the exotic in the flavor of the tahini and the sandy crunch of the turbinado sugar. I really couldn’t eat just one!

So try them….and while they are nestled in the oven take a moment to check out Christi’s blog, Kindling, and her new book Burn Wild, released just this week on Amazon.

Enjoy!