pb & Chocolate, Maca Clusters

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Ingredients

I LOVED no bake oatmeal cookies as a kid. Now that I'm mostly grain free, I wanted to come up with an alternative recipe. Thus, a seed version was born. Keeping the base peanut butter and chocolate was a must, although you could sub out for whatever nut butter you like. Besides that I used pumpkin, sunflower seeds and shredded coconut for my "oatmeal" and added a little vanilla and Maca powder.

1 cup fair trade dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup organic peanut butter
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup unshelled pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup shredded coconut
2 tbsp Maca powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

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Peanut butter is a good source of monounsaturated fat and should keep you satisfied longer than other kinds of snack foods, make sure you use peanut butter that doesn't have any added vegetable oils, just straight peanuts. Sunflower seeds have a very high Vitamin E content which make them anti-inflammatory. Pumpkin Seeds unshelled contain high amounts of Zinc. Coconut is another great source of fat but this gives you saturated fat, which, contrary to popular belief, is very good for you and should be consumed! Maca is a root that can be consumed daily as an overall tonic, it is known for it's abilities in hormonal issues, libido, immunity, memory, circulation and overall stamina. You can purchase this online at www.mountainroseherbs.com. The chocolate chip are dark so that there is less sugar, they are also fair trade, the ones I used are from Equal Exchange where they pay their cocoa farmers fair wages. http://shop.equalexchange.coop/chocolate/chocolate-chips.html

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Instructions

Melt the chocolate chips in a sauce pan on low, add in the peanut butter and stir until combined. Add vanilla, salt and then Maca making sure the powder is well incorporated. Last, add the seeds and coconut. Use a spoon to drop small clusters onto parchment paper and put in the fridge, or freezer if you want to eat them immediately, and wait for them to harden. Voila!