In a large bowl, cream together:

1 stick softened butter
3/4 cup raw or turbanado sugar

Beat in:
1/2 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)
2 eggs

Stir in:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup grain-sweetened chocolate morsels (or 1/2 cup each, white chocolate & regular chocolate)
1 cup dried cranberries****this is the #1 most important ingredient! (the chocolate is #2)

When everything above is mixed together really well, you will have a wet gloppy mixture in the bottom of your bowl. On top of that, measure out:
3 cups flour (I use a combination of sprouted spelt, oat, & barley flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork without dipping into the wet stuff. Once the dry is mixed, get your big spoon and go to it, mixing everything up really well. Depending upon the type of flour you use, you may want to add another couple of tablespoons+ to get the right "cookie dough" consistency.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375° for 8 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for one minute, then let cool completely on counter.

I brazenly bragged to my dad recently that I could make some of the best darn cookies he's ever had. He gave me a hard time about that until tasting these. They really are great.

{Regarding the sugar, my rule this year was "absolutely no white refined sugar" so even though I don't necessarily consider these 100% acceptable, they do meet my guidelines so I'm not cheating.}

Chocolate Sprinkle Cheesecake, with variations.

Who doesn't love cheesecake?  I'm no exception.  About ten years ago, I developed a very simple cheesecake recipe with minimal sugar and was surprised at how yummy it tasted every time I made it. (I'll be posting that in the "Hey, at least it's from scratch!" section later this year.)

This newer recipe omits the refined sugar and replaces a store-bought crust with one easily made from scratch.

The cheesecake pictured on the left has carob morsels stirred in the filling and sprinkled on top, along with chopped walnuts.  The one on the right is the "Chocolate Sprinkle" version. 

CRUST Ingredients:

1 1/2 c finely chopped walnuts

3 heaping T Larissa's flour mix*

olive or safflower oil

FILLING Ingredients:

2 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature

3 eggs

1/6 c each maple syrup, honey, agave**

1/3 c cocoa

OPTIONAL Fillings:

chocolate square to grate

chopped nuts

chocolate or peanut butter or carob morsels

*or the flour of your choice; details on my preferred flours coming soon

**information on sweeteners coming soon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Finely chop the walnuts until they resemble coarse meal. You want to end up with a cup to cup and a half. Mix your flour with the nuts and then plop into your pie dish and spread out along the bottom. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the nut mixture and then mix with a spoon until it is dampened. Now you can easily smoosh this along the bottom and up the sides of your pie pan.

To prepare the filling, put the softened cream cheese in a large bowl. With the back of a spoon, smoosh out the cream cheese, to make sure it's pliable and won't get stuck in your beater's twisty things. :-) Add each of the eggs to the cream cheese, beating well after each addition. Add the cocoa, which is optional -- if you want a chocolatey cheesecake, add it in. Leave it out if you want something more traditional. Alternatively, you could glop in some peanut butter here or anything you think of. I've added gorilla cookies (bananas). I know many people like lemon or lime juice or rind shavings. That after this, add in the liquid sweeteners and beat again. Don't stop until everything is really creamy. Take a breather and unplug then dismantle your mixer. It's time to lick your beater's doohickeys (anyone know what they're properly called?). Don't forget to share one with your spouse if he's on your good side at the moment. [Mine's in the background right now making sexual innuendo jokes...over cheesecake, of all things!]

If you're adding morsels or nuts to the interior of your cheesecake, stir them in.

Pour the filling into the pie dish and garnish the top with finely chopped nuts, morsels, or little chocolate shavings. (We used those little holes in a cheese grater and a hard square of unsweetened chocolate for the cheesecake pictured above. It was surprising how much shavings only part of the square generated.)

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Can be eaten fresh out of the oven, but will be really hot. The texture sets well and does great if allowed to cool, and placed in the refrigerator.