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Coconut Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Coconut Pecan Shortbread Cookies

With only four ingredients, you’ll love these cookies! (This recipe calls for a food dehydrator.) For key-lime shortbread cookies, add ½ cup lime juice and the zest from the limes.

1 pound pitted dates (about 2½ cups)

8 ounces unsweetened coconut (about 2½ cups)

8 ounces chopped pecans (about 2 cups)

1 pound gluten-free oats (about 2½ cups)

1. Soak the dates in 1 cup of water until soft. Place the dates and any unabsorbed liquid into a food processor (using the “S” blade) and process until a paste is created.

2. Scrape into a bowl and add the coconut, pecans and oats. Mix well with a wooden spoon, or I like to use my hands (with food service gloves) to make sure everything is fully incorporated.

3. Roll into balls or flatten into cookies and place on a Teflex sheet on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate at desired temperature.

4. Dehydrate for a few hours until dry to the touch, and then flip the cookies and dehydrate eight hours or more until desired level of crunchiness is reached (these will harden more as they cool). Store in an airtight container.

Note: If you don’t have a dehydrator, bake for 45 minutes at 250 degrees F, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for another hour.

Chef AJ
Chef
Chef AJ

Chef AJ has been devoted to a plant-based diet for almost 40 years, and is proud to say that her IQ is higher than her cholesterol. She is the host of the television series Healthy Living with Chef AJ, which airs on Foody TV, and also hosts a weekly podcast of the same name. As a comedienne as well as a chef, she has made appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Late Show with David Letterman. She is the author of the popular books The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss: A Revolutionary Approach to Conquer Cravings, Overcome Food Addiction and Lose Weight Without Going Hungry, and Unprocessed, the co-producer of Healthy Taste of L.A., and the creator of the Ultimate Weight Loss Program, which has helped hundreds of people achieve the health and body they deserve. Chef AJ was also the executive pastry chef at Santé Restaurant in Los Angeles, where she was famous for her sugar-, oil-, salt- and gluten-free desserts, which used the fruit, the whole fruit, and nothing but the whole fruit. Chef AJ holds a certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell University and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

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