Shanibars

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com. For once, I didn't change a thing (except that I made more, smaller bars)!

Ingredients

1 Cup chopped dates
3/4 Cup peanut butter
1/2 Cup flaked coconut
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt (optional)

Directions

1. Place the dates, peanut butter, coconut, cocoa powder and salt into a food processor. Cover, and blend until smooth, about 4 minutes. The mixture will be very sticky.
2. Press the mixture into a loaf pan lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove the chilled mixture from the pan and slice into 6 bars. Wrap each bar in foil and refrigerate until serving.

Power Cookies

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com, and as usual I've modified. I'll include the original recipe here with my notes. I reduced the sugar and added an egg. I also sometimes use whole wheat flour for some of the ground rolled oats. These are surprisingly yummy, and I don't feel at all guilty about eating them for breakfast or a snack.

Ingredients

4 Cups rolled oats (I used 2 cups ground oats and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
1 cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (15 ounce)
1/2 Cup white sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
1/2 Cup brown sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Cup chopped pitted dates
1/2 Cup flaked coconut
1/2 Cup raisins
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

1 egg (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Grind the oats in a blender until resembling coarse flour. (NOTE: I used two cups of rolled oats (measured before grinding) and about one cup whole wheat flour. At sea level, I couldn't stir in any more than that.)
2. In a medium bowl, mash beans to a smooth paste. Stir in the white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until well blended. Combine the ground oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; blend into the bean mixture. Stir in the dates, coconut, raisins and walnuts. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to cool completely.