Gut Repair Friendly Cookies, Yippeee!

Pumpkin is cooling in thermal nature, sweet and slightly bitter in flavor. It has been used in the symptomatic treatment of diabetes and hypoglycemia. It helps regulate blood sugar, benefits the pancreas, relieves damp conditions such as edema and even bronchial asthma. It is high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A as well as leutin and zeaxanthin, all of which may help prevent symptoms of cataracts and improve macular degeneration.

Cinnamon is pungent and slightly bitter in flavor and warming in thermal nature. It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.  In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) we would say cinnamon helps invigorate the blood. It also has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and help regulate blood sugar, especially with Type II diabetes. Smelling it can boost memory and cognitive function.

Cardamom can stimulate digestion as well as increase the production of bile while relieving flatulence. Herbal Medicines PDR reports that cardamom inhibits the growth of certain viruses, bacteria and fungus. In India it is used medicinally as an ant-inflammatory and can treat symptoms of bladder infection, nephritis and cystitis.

Cloves have antimicrobial, anti-fungal, antiseptic, antiviral, aphrodisiac and stimulating properties. It has a cooling, anti-inflammatory effect to the lungs for cough and bronchitis as well as for the skin and acne. It is commonly used for dental inflammations and pain including teething. (Resource: organicauthority.com, naturalremediesbase.com, organicfacts.net, Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford)

Ingredients

  • ½ cup Coconut butter or coconut cream concentrate
  • 1 Tbsp Honey (omit if you are doing strict gut repair) or 5 drops of Stevia or Monk fruit, or Coconut syrup, or maple syrup to taste
  • 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
  • ¾ tsp ground nutmeg (omit for strict gut repair)
  • ¾ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground cardamom (omit for strict gut repair)
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Optional:

  • ¼ tsp all spice (omit for strict gut repair)
  • 1 tsp liquid vanilla or raw powdered vanilla

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl or in food processor. I prefer using my food processor for easy mixing.
  2. Place the fruit roll sheets (they most likely came with your dehydrator and fit on top of the tray) in your food dehydrator. Alternately, you can cut parchment paper and place on your dehydrator trays.
  3. Spoon heaping spoons of batter (about 2 Tbsp per cookie) parchment paper (aiming for 12 cookies per batch). Shape the blobs of batter by flattening out with the back of a spoon or rubber spatula until the cookies are about 2” in diameter and about ½” high.
  4. Dry for 12-18 hours, until cookies have a slightly crisp outside and cakey inside (or dry longer for a crisper cookie). I prefer to remove the cookies from the fruit roll sheet after 10-12 hours and place the cookies on the dehydrator tray for a few more hours so the bottom dries more evenly.

Option:

Top them with raw coconut meringue or make mini sandwich cookies with the meringue in the middle.

Bon Appetit!