Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies & Doing Comes Out Of The Overflow Of Being

This recipe is such a good segue for a theme I am currently working on; "Doing comes out of the overflow of Being." I think to even say that I am "working on it" is a misnomer because really, I don't see that humans work on things. I am think humans are more apt to to accept and allow things. It feels like working on a koan (in zen buddhism koan is "the place truth is declared") with each moment I allow instead of struggle against. Cookies can have days they turn out well, and days the edges get burned. I settle into my cookie "being" which allows the "doing" of the cookie making to come forward. So there you go. Zen in the Kitchen.

Struggling with an illness seems to be the work of doing. In so many ways. One might say; "I don't want to be sick, so I will do all I can do to not be sick." Supplements, diet, direction, tests, interpretation, advocates. We do do do do to get out of the illness. The perfect metaphor we hear about this is "I am going to beat this disease." Rarely do I hear "I am going to love this disease." I wonder why. Is loving a disease that could kill us putting us too close to the idea that disease may have more power than us? Draw too much attention to being "in" a disease state? Or I am not going to love a disease because my disease is "ruining" my life why would I love something that can ruin my life or kill me? Or could it be that a disease could be the one way ticket, the fastest route possible, to the magic treasure box of the deepest love and acceptance we have ever known inside ourselves. Instead of putting on boxing gloves, we look inward and and love from the place of acceptance.

So what if we stopped doing. What if this place right here was just the right place to be. What if the current state of illness was just the right place to be. The sadness was just the right place to be. We look nowhere else except at this moment, right here and now with illness or suffering and say "ok this is hard. I am struggling. I am accepting that I am struggling. I am accepting this path right at this moment and love it." Could that change the cellular response. Could that acceptance and love towards the moment we are in have profound effects on our biology? I know that our society tells us we have to fight, be strong, overcome. We are a nation of fighters. What if we became a nation of people who love? And anything, no matter what it was, (hurricanes, disease, poverty, injustice, classism) became nothing more than a reflection to ourselves to love more. This is my work. As I talk to the school office lady on the phone at my daughters school, I struggle with this. As I look at the polar ice caps melting, I struggle with this. It is a minute to minute decision to stay in the loving.

I say yes though. I say that we could spend a day or even a few minutes immersed in complete acceptance about where we are at. And if we did, our adrenal glands might stop working so hard and our cortisol levels could shift for the better. Our neurotransmitters may come into a more balanced state. Our biology could shift in a single moment by a single thought. It could. Love can do that. Love can move us out of a situation quicker than any other action. Try it. Tell me what happens.


So these cookies...

I made them for three kids at my house (one of them mine, two of them I love like they are mine) for an after school project. Nothing crazy; just another Paleo-ish cookie to whip up. I like that it is only 10 minutes of preparation. Chocolate Dream chocolate chips by Sunspire are gluten and dairy free. I cannot find chips that don't have grain sweetener. I am waiting for someone to invent coconut sugar sweetened chocolate chips! You could leave out the chips to make them super duper grain free. I like the texture and extra burst of chocolate they gave the cookies though. These cookies are tender and have a good amount of chocolate, which I am prefer over mild chocolate cookies. And the best part was the kids did not know it was almond flour until I told them!

It was quite easy and quick!!

2 cups almond meal
1 stick butter room temperature (I use pasture butter)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla powder
1/3 cup coco powder
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbls honey
8 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix almond meal, baking powder, salt, coco powder in bowl.

In separate bowl, cream butter then add maple syrup, honey and eggs one at a time.

Mix in dry ingredients into bowl. Add chips and fold in. Use a parchment lined cookie sheet and spoon about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie at least 2 inches apart.