Dates are the New Raisins.

Are my eyes seeing correctly?

Does it really say TWO weeks left until Christmas

on the virtual Advent Calendar??!

Speaking of Christmas,

Santa’s snowmen helpers stopped by

and wanted to announce the winners from this weekend’s giveaway.

The 2 winners of a very merry,

Fork and Beans cookie jar & Dandies gift are:

 Rebecca

*AND*

Lizzie 

Congrats ladies!

Email me at: myforkandbeans@gmail.com

with your address so I can ship your gift off to you as soon as possible!

Day 8 of the “The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies”: Oatmeal and Date Cookies.

(((For those of you new to Fork and Beans,

we have been dedicating the first half of the month to

12 glorious gluten free and vegan cookie recipes

I have converted from my bloggy friend, Brooke))).

Call me crazy but oatmeal raisins cookies aren’t on the top of  my go-to cookie list.

I just never have been a fan.

It’s probably the raisins.

I hate raisins.

I used to pour Raisin Bran cereal into my bowl

and then spend the next 10 minutes hand-plucking each raisin out of my bowl.

Same went with cinnamon raisin bread…

or bagels…

or rolls…

or cookies.

I could never understand why someone

would willing choose raisins over chocolate chips to be put into their cookies.

So when Brooke handed me today’s recipe,

I wasn’t too thrilled about it, to be honest.

I was secretly wishing Greg was here to gobble them up

since it’s his favorite kind of cookie.

But since I was the only one home,

alone I baked,

alone I taste-tested my first batch…

and alone I sat, stuffing my face with a 1/2 dozen Oatmeal Date cookies.

My immediate thought was:

Why haven’t dates substituted raisins officially yet???

They are far superior than those shriveled grapes.

They are milder

and caramel-like,

without that weird “I’ve been in the bath way too long” texture in your mouth.

Great. I have become a dried fruit snob.

I cannot wait for WEDNESDAY for Greg to finally get back

after 2 months too long of being away from my side

I will hand feed these to him until the last one is gone.

(which won’t be hard since there are only 4 left).

Oatmeal and Date Cookie Recipe

Converted from Brooke’s recipe

makes 25-30 large cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 Tbs Earth Balance butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tb soft tofu, blended (as an egg substitute)
• 2 Tbs water
• 1 tsp Ashlae’s famous vanilla extract
• 2/3 c. Authentic Foods all-purpose flour blend
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 c. GF oats
• 8 oz chopped dates

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add egg in and beat thoroughly.
3. Mix in water and vanilla.
4. Sift together flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda; add to egg mix until blended.
5. Add oats and dates; mix.
6. Form large cookies of parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
7. Bake 15-17  minutes.