No-Bake Chocolate Love Crunch Cereal Cookies

My family is officially obsessed with these cookies. They received 10/10 ratings from everyone. I got suggestions to sell them. I was begged to make more. They’re already planning to give them out as Christmas gifts. I was told they were the best thing I’ve ever made (no joke.)

These cookies are great because they come together in just 10(ish) minutes, and you don’t even have to bake em. PLUS the ingredients are basically all the same ingredients you’d find in a granola bar (ie. dates, oats, cashew butter, cacao powder, etc.) So this cookie is practically a superfood.

I could say that the rave reviews are all due to my recipe, but the truth is that they’re mostly due to how good Nature’s Path Love Crunch Cereal is. It’s a brand new certified organic product from Nature’s Path, and it’s the bees freaking knees. PLUS Nature’s Path has a Bite4Bite program, where they donate to the food bank every time you buy their cereal. So you’re giving back to the world, just by making cookies.

Just get to it and make them already. (You can call it a cookie-shaped granola bar.)

This post was sponsored by Nature’s Path. Thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow Brewing Happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

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No Bake Chocolate Love Crunch Cereal Cookies

With ingredients like dates, oats, and nut butter, these No Bake Chocolate Love Crunch Cereal Cookies are practically granola bars (with chocolate on top!)

Course Dessert, Sweet Thangs

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 8 cookies

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted and packed
• 2 tablespoons cashew nut butter
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder (sub cocoa powder)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/3 cups Nature's Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate Macaroon Cereal
• 2/3 cup rolled oats

Top with:

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted (sub dairy free dark chocolate)
• 2 tbsp pepitas, roasted and salted

Instructions

1. Add your dates, cashew nut butter, pepitas, cacao powder, water and sea salt to a food processor fitted with an s-blade. Process until it makes a smooth paste. (Be sure there are no chunks of dates left.) You may have to scrape the sides a few times to make this happen.

2. Transfer your date paste to a large bowl along with your dates and Love Crunch Cereal. Mix with a spoon (or your hands), until well combined. 

3. Wet your hands and form your "dough" into 8 cookie shapes. (You may need to wet your hands often to keep it from sticking.) Lay your cookies onto parchment paper. 

4. Melt your dark chocolate and drizzle it over your cookies. Top each one with a few pepitas. 

5. EAT UP. 

Recipe Notes

*I find that refrigerating these cookies allows them to hold shape better, and makes them last longer! 

I recently heard a study recently that demystified the myth of comfort foods. The two test groups were given either healthy snacks or their favorite “comfort” foods when feeling sad and the result was revealing. It had no effect which foods were given to boost mood. In fact, there was no pleasurable experience had with the comfort foods. You were better off eating a healthy snack than your favorite comfort food when feeling blue. (AKA. Mac ‘n cheese won’t comfort you at all.)

The truth is that we taste and experience our food more when we are happy. It makes sense on some level, doesn’t it? When we feel more alive we can taste and see and feel and experience more – even our food. (Perhaps, especially our food.)

Which means that as a culture we need to shift the way we think about and label our food. (Don’t even get me started on the words “guilt-free” and “cheat days”.) When it comes to “comfort foods” we should really be referring to the foods that deeply nourish our body and help us feel alive (not carbs and sugar.) We should be eating more grains, dark leafy greens, vegetables, fermented foods and protein. That is what will truly help to comfort our bodies.

Cookies on the other hand (or more specifically, these No Bake Chocolate Love Crunch Cereal Cookies) should be eaten on the most joyous of occasions. They are a celebration of flavor and chocolate in each bite and they should be treated as such. Breathe in deep and taste every bite – let them add to your happiness.

To some this might be a full on revelation, and to others this might be aligned with what you were naturally drawn toward. Either way I hope it’s a good reminder to deeply nourish yourself when you are feeling low. Self care must come first. But there is a special place in this world for Love Crunch Cereal Cookies, and it is when you are truly enjoying your life. Soak it in. Let the cookies be a reminder of just how beautiful life can be. xo.