This recipe is from Kate O’Donnell’s Everyday Ayurveda Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind, which I highly recommend both for its simple, nourishing recipes and the beautiful presentation of essential Ayurvedic principles in the introduction. Whether you’ve never heard of Ayurveda before of you’ve studied it for years, you’ll find her offerings to be incredibly helpful.
I made this recipe within a week of getting this cookbook and I’m totally hooked.
Ayurveda teaches us that the sweet taste is grounding, nourishing and building. But of course not all sweets are created equal! This mixture of sesame tahini, ground oats, dates and warming spices is deeply satisfying and stands heads above the typical sweet. It’s wholesome, filling, and doesn’t leave your tongue feeling dull and uninspired like quick sugary fixes so often do.
I bake these quite often in the cold weather 🙂 On Halloween this year, I made a point to make them before we went trick-or-treating with the kiddo.
I personally knew that corn syrup wasn’t going to be helpful for any of my body systems, but the temptation can still be there when candy is flying around everywhere you look. I intentionally nourished myself with this sweet but grounding, satisfying treat before we went and did not feel deprived in ANY WAY when I passed on the conventional candies offered up that evening. 
I have a dedicated spice/ nut grinder. It’s indispensable for some of my favorite desserts. A high-power blender could also work for the grinding required in this recipe.
1 Tbsp freshly ground chia seeds
3 Tbsp water
2 cups oat flour (rolled oats, ground into a powder)
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp Sweet Spice Mix*
1 cup tahini
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 Medjool dates, pitted and diced
*Sweet Spice Mix (make ahead of time and store in a glass jar. Use in hot cereals, spiced milks, baked goods… anywhere you want a warming touch.)
Kate O’Donnell’s cookbooks contain a useful variety of spice mixes to prepare ahead of time and use in her recipes or your own. Fresh spices are potent with medicinal compounds and are well worth incorporating into your regular cooking.
1 tsp of the following mixture is called for in this recipe.
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp ground cardamom
1 tsp grated nutmeg (optional)
Preheat oven to 325, lightly grease a baking sheet with ghee or coconut oil.
(I actually use a pizza stone and/or a large cast iron skillet instead here).
Grind the chia seeds and whisk with the water in a medium bowl, let stand for 5 minutes.
Place oat flour, salt and Sweet Spice Mix in a large mixing bowl
To the chia seed mixture, add tahini, maple syrup and vanilla.
Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add this, along with the dates, to the oat flour. Stir until just combined.
…I end up using my hands for this part.
Form balls with ~ 3 Tbsp of dough, place then 2 inches apart on the greased baking sheet.
Flatten balls with the palm of your hand into a round medallion shape.
Bake 12-15 minutes, just until firm and slightly browned. Let cool 5-10 min before removing from the cookie sheet.
Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 days.
The first time I made these, my son said they tasted … “healthy.” Which I quite enjoy. But in the next batch, I decreased the tahini just a bit, added a touch more maple syrup and a few more dates. I use more of a heaping tsp of the spice mix too. Now his feedback is basically “when can I have more of those?!”
They are healthy and absolutely delicious. This is an all-time favorite in our household now.
Make some and enjoy with a hot cup of milky tea next time you’re in the mood for a grounding, tasty treat!
