Donnie’s Walnut-Coconut Crescent Holiday Cookies

Baking cookies and sharing them with friends is part of our family’s holiday tradition. This year, I created a new recipe that I’d like to share with you. It’s a delicious holiday treat (made with spelt, walnuts, and other healthy ingredients) that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as we do!

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz butter (1 stick butter)
  • 2 oz coconut oil
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

    Walnut-Coconut Crescent Holiday Cookies
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 1 cup sprouted spelt flour *
  • ½ cup Pamela’s baking mix
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts*
  • 1 cup shredded coconut, toasted on stove for 2 minutes, stirring frequently

Sugar and spice topping:

  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp. cardamom
  • 2 tsp. maple sugar
  • 1 tsp. coconut milk powder

Instructions:

  1. Soften butter and mix with coconut oil and vanilla. Beat in maple syrup and coconut sugar.
  2. Sift oat flour, spelt flour, baking mix, and sea salt and add to wet ingredients.
  3. Fold in chopped walnuts and coconut.
  4. Shape into crescents and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before baking.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F convection.
  6. Bake cookies for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
  7. Remove from oven, place on rack to cool, and using a sifter, dust cookies with the sugar and spice mixture.

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A Holiday Blessing

At this time of year, perhaps more than any other, we have the opportunity to shine forth our soul’s brightest light. The joyous celebrations and sacred traditions of Christmas and Hanukkah help to connect us with our inner spirit of gratitude, praise, generosity, and love, as well as with one another. At the same time, the Winter Solstice, a celebration of the earth, calls us to journey within in the darkness of the season and to look forward to the returning of the light.

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Beyond Optimism—Cultivating the Virtue of Hope

Optimism can be defined as the non-empirical belief that positive circumstances will result from uncertain or even negative circumstances—in other words, it is the expectation that good things rather than bad things will generally happen. On the surface, that sounds like a positive way to live. But there’s a significant flaw in viewing the world optimistically. What happens when reality doesn’t live up to our optimistic expectations? Optimism claims, “Everything will be all right!” But what if everything isn’t “alright”?

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Christmas Blessing

Christmas is preeminently a feast of joy. There’s a gladness that infuses the Christmas season, expressed in the exchange of gifts and warm greetings, the familiar refrains of Christmas music, the decorated tree and lights, and the radiant faces of children with sparkling eyes as they eagerly await Christmas day. During this season, we share a glimpse of humanity’s deep longing for celebration, joy, love, peace, sharing, and unity. These are the true gifts of Christmas.

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