I slept in today so instead of dawn photos I have sunny blue sky photos. These show my maple, walnut and cherry in their winter nakedness.

Day 2 of my Advent calendar gave me pale blue yarn and two more beads, one of which is a seahorse one.

I baked cookies today to freeze for next week. This recipe is my own. Feel free to use it, share it, adapt it. They make good ‘energy bars’ and are free of added oil and refined sugar.

This isn’t really a dessert. More of an all-purpose snack. We’ve made them lots of times and they are great for taking on plane journeys for travel fortification and even breakfast on day 1 of the holiday.

The ingredients can be subbed, left out, added to. I rarely have coconut in the pantry these days. Today I didn’t have prunes so used apples instead. The prunes do work well though. I learned years ago that prune puree makes a reasonable sub for oil.

Everything (but the kitchen sink) cookies

3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tblsp baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts
1.5 cups raisins
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
.5 tsp salt
.5 cup coconut

Mix in large bowl.

In blender, blitz
1 cup ready to eat prunes
1 cup water
.5 cup maple syrup
.5 cup plant milk
Juice 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla
1 banana

Pour into bowl, mix. Drop large spoonfuls onto 2 baking sheets (use parchment or silicone because they will stick otherwise). I got 16 large cookies out of this quantity.
Bake 25 mins at 375°F.

My Vlogmas recommendation today is This Little Wonderful Life. Ali from Kent in England also has a podcast channel, Little Drops of Wonderful.

And a bonus! DROPS is offering free patterns during Advent. You can find them at garnstudio.com/christmas-calendar.php?cid=19

Have a wonderful day, wherever you are.