I’m almost completely unable to throw out food. I hold on to bits and pieces like we’re in the Dust Bowl and it’s 1933. My great-grandmas would be proud of me. Erik thinks there isn’t a use for the last tiny bit of jam or apple peelings, but there is! Flavoring yogurt and pectin stock for jam and jelly! So there!!

Until I found this recipe, I was throwing out the pulp from making . . . → Read More: Carrot Almond Macaroon Recipe]]>

I’m almost completely unable to throw out food. I hold on to bits and pieces like we’re in the Dust Bowl and it’s 1933. My great-grandmas would be proud of me. Erik thinks there isn’t a use for the last tiny bit of jam or apple peelings, but there is! Flavoring yogurt and pectin stock for jam and jelly! So there!!

Until I found this recipe, I was throwing out the pulp from making carrot juice and almond milk (and dying a little inside). I mean, you get tasty carrot juice and almond milk that’s much cheaper and less-filled-with-junk than store-bought, but still! All that perfectly good pulp…it made me sad. Plus, I like cookies, especially macaroons and especially when they use up stuff that I was previously tossing/composting while tasting rich and delicious.

Also, it’s a well-known fact that cookies have no calories when they’re mostly made of ingredients that were otherwise destined for the garbage.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to make almond milk or carrot juice first to enjoy these. I adopted this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, which uses chopped nuts and grated carrots.

We aren’t lucky enough to get oats or almonds at our farmer’s market, so we get both in the bulk section at our grocery store. They might not be local, but buying from the bulk section creates significantly less waste than buying pre-packaged.

I’d like to experiment with using ghee instead of coconut oil to increase the local-ness, but the coconut oil really makes them macaroons and isn’t as bad as it was once thought to be. Plus, I’ve replace my moisturizer with coconut oil, so we always have some on hand.

Carrot Almond Macaroons
Makes about 3 1/2 dozen

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, and salt) in a large bowl.
   
2. Add the carrots and almonds and whisk long enough to break up most of the clumps. Our juicer sometimes leaves a few chunks in the carrot pulp, so I fish these out now, too.
3. In a glass measuring cup, melt the coconut oil in the microwave until just melted. This usually takes about a minute, but it depends on how warm the apartment is.
4. While the coconut oil melts, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease them with non-stick spray or butter.
5. Add the maple syrup and ginger to the measuring cup and stir to combine

   

6. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

   

7. Use either a 2-teaspoon scoop or a tablespoon, drop the cookies onto the prepared pans. They won’t spread much, so you can place them pretty close together.

   

8. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for as long as you can wait.

   Our oven runs hot, so I always set the timer for 8 minutes and then check every 2 minutes after that. To speed things up, I fill one pan and get it in the oven right away (top rack). The second pan takes me about 2 minutes to fill (thanks to the scoop!), so I put it in the bottom rack and rotate the pans when the initial 8 minutes are up (i.e. move the top pan to the bottom and the bottom pan to the top). Then I just remember that the second pan (now on the top) needs a few extra minutes.

These pack well, so I have been taking some along on my weekly business trips. It’s a nice little taste of home.

UPDATE: I just made these gluten-free by using buckwheat flour (instead of whole wheat) and gluten-free oats. They’re still delicious!