How to Make Maple Cream Walnut Cookies

SERVINGS: 12

PREP TIME: 25 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 40 MINUTES

SKILL LEVEL: EASY

MEAL: SNACK-DESSERT

STYLE: WESTERN

PREPARATION: BAKED

EAT IN: AUTUMN-WINTER

FOR OCCASION: ROMANTIC, THANKSGIVING, NEW-YEARS-DAY, CHRISTMAS

How Can This Ayurvedic Recipe Make You Feel Great?

AYURVEDIC ANALYSIS

Maple cream icing coats the tops of these rich walnut cookies. The warming hint of cinnamon and nutmeg gives layers of flavor to these tempting cookies. This fun and festive recipe is a jovial addition to your holiday cookie tin. Dip one into a steaming cup of Cinnamon Anise Chai to warm up a crisp night!

Cookies and Carols

-Heather's Christmas Story
When I was a kid, I went caroling every year with my best friend's family. A large crew of mom, dad, their seven kids plus the one's they picked up along the way for the night (like my sister and I) made a merry band of carolers. We bundled up, and jumped in the van to deliver songs and cookies to long list of friends. Their Winter tradition was a major event- an elaborate schedule complete with efficient routes perfected over the years was planned weeks in advance. Each year seemed to include more families, more houses, more cookies, until they filled several hours of caroling each night for over two weeks leading up to the big culmination on Christmas Eve. On the nights they came to my door, my grandfather smiled, raised his hands, and joined in the singing. The tin of cookies handed across the threshold was as traditional as the songs. Maple Cream Walnut Cookies would have nestled nicely into the array of brownies, sugar cookies, and snickerdoodles, offering their unique, yet familiar flavor.

Gluten Free

But you'd never know it to taste them! These cookies are kind to tummies that have a challenge with gluten, or for those of you who have been indulging in lots of gluten-ous treats this holiday season. Excessive wheat isn't good for any digestive system and can cause easily avoidable problems. These cookies feature protein rich almond flour that will cookie-fix you right up without causing digestive problems like bloating and indigestion that wheat flour can cause so easily.

Food for Your Brain

These yummy cookies feature several brain-foods: tahini, walnuts, and almonds all contain juicy fats that nourish your brain. How does that help you? The grounding effects of healthy fats calm the mind, and soothe your nerves. And lets face it: the holidays can be stressful! Here's a cookie that calms your emotions with it's rich sweetness and physiologically with nourishing, grounding, loving fats.

Digestion

Cookies aren't famous for their digestibility. High amounts of sugar combined with sticky gluten, chocolate, often peanuts, or cream can leave you feeling jittery, thoughts speeding, and even nauseous. Maple Cream Walnut Cookies, in exciting contrast, feature a high protein content and healthy fats of tahini, walnuts, almonds, and eggs and counterbalance the sweetness of sugar. Warming and aromatic, cinnamon and nutmeg help stimulate your digestive fire by increasing circulation to the stomach and clearing stagnation.

Maple Tahini Icing is a particularly welcome guest in the gut- earthy maple syrup has more nutrients and minerals than plain sugar. It's rich flavor is a delicious bonus to its health benefits.

WHY EAT AN AYURVEDIC DIET?

Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. An Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body type and the specific imbalances you are working with at any given time. Ayurveda shows you your specific body type’s needs and what should be favored in your Ayurvedic menu. Watch as you eat less but feel more satisfied because what you are eating truly nourishes you. Since Ayurveda believes all disease begins in the digestive tract, food is your first medicine. By eating a healthy diet that’s ideal for your body, you experience optimal health.

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Is Maple Cream Walnut Cookies Good for My Ayurvedic Diet?

Find out by taking this free, easy quiz. You'll learn your body type, and whether Maple Cream Walnut Cookies is a good fit for you. Time to complete: approximately 1 minute.

AYURVEDIC MEDICINAL QUALITIES

INCREASES Increases These Qualities (Gunas) Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main characteristics (gunas). Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance. By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick. Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold). You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic. Learn More	HEAVY ABOUT HEAVY GUNA Heavy is identified by sedation, sluggishness, or increased weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT HEAVY GOOEY ABOUT GOOEY GUNA Gooey is identified by anything gelatinous (such as oatmeal), or by mucus congestion. LEARN MORE ABOUT GOOEY TOXIC ABOUT TOXIC GUNA A substance that causes toxicity in the body, or that harms the body. LEARN MORE ABOUT TOXIC MOBILE ABOUT MOBILE GUNA Mobile refers to anything that stimulates the nervous system, muscles, or activity. LEARN MORE ABOUT MOBILE
TASTES The 6 Tastes Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food. Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body. Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food. Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods. Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion. Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste. One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below? Learn More	SWEET ABOUT SWEET GUNA Sweet refers to anything builds tissue, including macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats. LEARN MORE ABOUT SWEET ASTRINGENT ABOUT ASTRINGENT GUNA Astringency is characterized by constriction, drawing together, or drying. LEARN MORE ABOUT ASTRINGENT
DOSHAS The Three Doshas / Body Types People tend to get sick, over and over again, due to similar causes and habitual imbalances that are unique to the person. Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness. Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency. Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses. The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history. The 3 functional body types (doshas), are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha). Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. Catabolic people tend to be easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry. Metabolic people tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed. Anabolic people are heavy, stable and grounded, but if they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Learn More	PACIFIES AGGRAVATES
HAS THE FOLLOWING	EFFECT: Ojas OJAS Ojas is the essence of healthy tissue, immunity, stable energy and happiness. Substances that improve ojas are recommended after long-term illness, debility, emotional and physical trauma, and even sadness. LEARN MORE ABOUT OJAS , Sattvic SATTVIC Sattvic foods promote awareness and a refreshed mind by nourishing the body without taxing digestion. Sattvic foods do not stimulate desire or nervous energy. They create clarity instead of drowsiness or heaviness. LEARN MORE ABOUT SATTVIC , Prana PRANA Prana is the Sanskrit word for vital life energy, similar to Qi in Chinese Medicine. Many herbs stimulate your energy, or improve the flow of prana through your body. Generally, prana needs to be increased in spring after a sleepy winter. LEARN MORE ABOUT PRANA , Alkalizing ALKALIZING An herb or food that makes the urine more alkaline (higher pH). This herbal action can be helpful for a number of inflammatory conditions. LEARN MORE ABOUT ALKALIZING TYPE: Nuts Seeds, Grains CONTAINS: Allergens, Tree Nuts ELEMENT: Water WATER Resembles water (ap) in quality - fluid, sticky, soft, heavy, stable, cool. LEARN MORE ABOUT WATER , Earth EARTH Resembles earth (prithvi) in quality - heavy, dense, solid, stable, hard. LEARN MORE ABOUT EARTH SUBTASTE: Crunchy CRUNCHY Makes an audible noise when you eat them. Can provide fun texture variation. LEARN MORE ABOUT CRUNCHY NUTRIENT: Calcium COLOR: White NOURISHES: Plasma PLASMA Plasma (Rasa Dhatu) includes plasma, white blood cells, and lymph. LEARN MORE ABOUT PLASMA , Fat FAT Fat tissue (Meda Dhatu) includes adipose tissue and sebum (skin oil). LEARN MORE ABOUT FAT MOVES ENERGY: Downward DOWNWARD Downward-moving (Adho Gati Marga) substances move food downward in the GI tract, settle the nervous system, and relax muscles. LEARN MORE ABOUT DOWNWARD

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Experiences are Personal

Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary. The list of actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.

Heart & Circulation:

Calms heart

CALMS-HEART

An herb that literally calms the heart. These herbs are helpful in the treatment of anxiety, sadness, depression, or other emotional imbalances in the heart. Related to the Chinese Herbal Category 'calms spirit.'

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Mind, Stress & Sleep:

Grounding

GROUNDING

Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth.

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