Calgary’s Cashew Thumbprint Cookies

My kids are my most trusted recipe testers – I try everything on them first. Sometimes I get a ‘that’s okay’ or ‘that tastes weird’, but these super-easy raw cookies got a ‘Mummy, these are delicious! Can I have another?’, so my bet is you’ll like them too. All you need is a food processor and a refrigerator to make these tasty little bites.

Traditional ‘thumbprint’ cookies are topped with jam but these aren’t exactly traditional! I personally like them left plain and just dusted with a bit of cinnamon or cacao powder, but you could also top them each with an individual raspberry, a blueberry, a whole cashew, a small chunk of dark chocolate or carob.

Makes 15

Ingredients:
100g plain cashews
3 tbsp coconut oil, softened
2–3 Medjool dates, pitted
2 tbsp plain sunflower seeds (not flavoured or roasted)
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
75g rolled oats (glutenfree if possible)

Method:
To make the sauce, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, then add the chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté for around 10 minutes or until soft. Then add the tomatoes, tomato purée and bay leaves. Stir well, turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Simply throw everything – except the oats – in a food processor and blend until it has the consistency of a thick paste. Scrape down the sides of the food processor a few times as needed.

Then add the oats and pulse again until everything is blended together. If at this stage the mixture doesn’t quite hold together sufficiently, add another date and pulse again.
With your hands, roll the dough into 15 small balls and place on a baking sheet. (I usually put baking parchment down on the baking sheet just to make cleaning up easier.) Push down the centre of each cookie with your thumb.

Place the sheet in the refrigerator for 2–6 hours, until firm, and keep them stored there afterwards in an airtight container. They will last for 7 days.

Extracted from Keep It Real by Calgary Avansino, published by Yellow Kite, £25
Photography by Kristin Perers