Raw Vegan Samoa Cookies

Raw vegan Samoa cookies are such an excellent substitute for this Girl-Scout favorite. Who hasn’t polished off a full sleeve of these in one sitting? Guilty! Now, you can eat several of these and not feel guilty, because they are insanely healthy! The ingredients won’t break the bank either. And even better, they are quick and easy to make!

Tips to Lower Cost

Some ingredients in this recipe may be a bit expensive, so to lower the cost, simply get the best that you can afford. For instance, organic Medjool dates are the best, but buy regular Deglet Noor dates if that is all your budget allows. Also, organic, extra-virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil is by far the best, but simply get a cold-pressed coconut oil if need be. Even regular cocoa powder can be used in place of the raw cacao powder. Eventually, you may want to allow more in your food budget for healthier choices, but just do what you can with what you have now.

Tips for Preparing Walnuts

Before deciding to make these cookies, we highly recommend soaking the raw walnuts overnight for at least 12 hours. There is an excellent reason for this: all nuts and seeds are coated with an enzyme inhibitor. This will preserve them until it’s time for them to grow into a plant. As we all know, a seed will not grow without water, so if we soak or sprout them, they become abundantly healthier to eat. If we don’t soak and rinse them, the enzyme inhibitor makes it extremely difficult to digest and can cause gastric distress. No fun!

Tips for Preparing Coconut Oil

Also, we recommend buying an organic, extra-virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil to use in this recipe and others. It is solid at room temperature, so to use it as a liquid, you will need to gently heat this at a temperature no more than 118°F. To do this, simply turn your stove eye on, let it get hot, then turn it off. Then, set your coconut oil onto the warm eye in a metal pot or container and watch it melt. Use it soon before it turns solid again. Do not let it boil, since we want the oil to retain its healthy enzymes to aid in digestion. Heating above 118°F will kill those precious enzymes.

To save time, go ahead and melt all of the coconut oil at one time that is called for in all three tiers of this recipe, which is about 1/2 cup total. Finally, if there is any left over, you can pour it back into your coconut oil container, since it will turn solid again when it cools off, thus eliminating waste.