No-Bake Cookies with Crio Bru

Have you tried Crio Bru? If you like chocolate--especially if you like rich, dark chocolate--you will LOVE Crio. I am a huge fan. I drink it several mornings a week.  Crio is a drink made from 100% roasted and ground cocoa beans, and it is brewed like coffee. I brew mine in a french press. My favorite way to drink it is iced with a pack of Truvia sweetener and a shot of creamer.  So delicious!

A beautiful feature of Crio grounds is that they can be re-used in baking.  And after making a few recipes with my used grounds, I never throw them away. They are too deliciously valuable!

I buy my Cri Bru on Amazon, and it is also available in many grocery and health-food stores. I am NOT being compensated for this recipe post--I'm just sharing a product I truly love with my many chocolate-loving readers!

After some questions on social media from readers, I am posting a link to the french press I use. I'm sure there are others that work well out there, but I can personally attest to the ease of use (and ease of cleaning!), as well as the effective brewing ability of this press: 

Now on to how to use the grounds to make your chocolate no-bake cookies over-the-top with rich yumminess!

Here are the used grounds. They should be damp, but not at all juicy. This recipe uses 1 cup of previously-brewed Crio grounds. If you brew daily, you'll have a cup in less than a week.  The grounds expand when they are brewed, so they accumulate pretty fast. I just scoop them into a bowl after each brew and keep them covered in the refrigerator. 

Place your cup of grounds into a food processor/blender. 

Pulse for about 1 minute total, scraping the sides a couple of times. The grounds will still be coarse,  but less rough than they started out.

Now make the chocolate candy base for your no-bake cookies by melting 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 1/3 cup of cocoa powder.  Once melted, stir in the processed Crio grounds.  Bring to a boil and boil hard while stirring for 2 full minutes. This breaks down the sugar so the cookies aren't gritty. Don't boil more than 4 minutes, though, as the sugar will start becoming too hard. 

Remove from heat, and stir in 1 cup peanut (or other nut) butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Stir in 2.5 cups of quick oats.  Similar recipes for no-bake cookies call for 3 cups of oats, but the Crio grounds add fiber and bulk, so these only call for 2.5 cups. 

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper. Refrigerate or freeze to set. 

I kept these in my freezer for a few days and LOVED grabbing one when I needed a little chocolate treat. My kids discovered them and they were gone shortly after. The chocolate flavor in these are SO incredible! And they have less sugar and more health benefits than most cookies, so you can feel good eating them and sharing them with your family!

Here's the recipe: 

No-Bake Cookies with Crio Bru

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup previously brewed Crio Bru grounds

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup peanut (or other nut) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups quick oats

Directions:

1. Place previously brewed Crio grounds in a food processor and pulse 1 minute, scraping sides 2 times.  Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, melt butter with sugar and cocoa powder, stirring until smooth. Add Crio grounds and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil 2 full minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Stir in quick oats. Immediately drop by heaping tablespoon onto wax paper-lined baking sheets. Place in freezer of fridge to set. 

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Trail Cookies (Sugar-free, Gluten-free, Milk-free, Bad Fat-free)

And they're not gross! They are tasty, even. I promise. My kids have all approved.

In hopes of seizing the forecast sunny (!!) day this weekend, I decided to try out an idea for a healthy but hearty cookie to take along on our excursions.  It doesn't have any weird unnatural sweeteners, bad fats, or ingredients that are hard to find or expensive. My recipe made about 60 cookies and cost about $6 to make. Not bad eh?

I used homemade date paste instead of refined sugar to sweeten them. You can find the tutorial for making your own date paste here on Chocolate and Carrots. These cookies aren't as sweet as a typical oatmeal cookie (more in the realm of a muffin's sweetness), and they are full of delicious texture and moisture.

I'm so excited to pack these up for our hike this weekend! Now we won't be tempted to stuff our pockets with Halloween candy! 

Here's the recipe: 

Trail Cookies

Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients:

1.25 cups date paste (see link above for how to make your own.)

1.5 cups natural unsweetened peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut oil

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

4.5 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats--gluten free

1 cup dried fruit, chopped to raisin-size (I used cranberries, raisins, and blueberries)

1 cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans because I love them)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat date paste, peanut butter and coconut oil. Add in eggs and beat well.

3. Beat in vanilla, sea salt, and baking soda.  Mix in remaining ingredients 2 cups at at time.

4. Use a medium cookie scoop to place on cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Press down to flatten slightly. Bake 9-10 minutes. Cool and store in refrigerator or freezer. 

Here's a glimpse of the hike we took these cookies on this weekend.  My only complaint: I should have packed more! We gobbled them up!

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