Date Sweetened Cinnamon Cookies (Gluten Free, SCD, GAPS friendly)

I just tried a little experiment and I'm pretty happy with the results.  I do quite a bit of baking around here and like to have cookies and baked goods to throw into the kids' school lunches but I don't want to load them up on sugar, even natural sugar or honey (which is all we're using right now).  Eva likes dates and has used date butter (just equal parts butter and dates processed together) on top of her occasional breakfast oatmeal but my boys don't care for them normally.  But I just tried two experiments with dates and both worked out well and are very popular with the boys!  One is peanut butter balls rolled in flaked coconut (containing peanut butter, dates, flaked coconut, coconut flour, and coconut oil) and the other were cinnamon cookies. 

The cookies are not very sweet but are tasty.  If you're kids are used to refined sugar and flour then these may not go over so well... Here is the recipe!

1 1/2 cup dates (loose dates, nothing added)
1 cup almonds (soaked and dried)
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup coconut flour
3 tbs soft butter or coconut oil
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.   Put all ingredients into food processor and process until dates and almonds are well ground and mixture is a dough consistency.  Shape into small balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Flatten with the heel of your palm (or you could use the back of a greased spoon, etc...).  Bake 12-14 min.  Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Gluten-Free, GAPS, Gut Healing...etc, etc,...

I've been scouring the web looking for info.  The kids will be arriving home this weekend and I'm gearing up for big changes around here.   I've been diving back into Nourishing Traditions, checking out the GAPS diet, looking at tons of gluten-free recipes, and percolating.  I've got my first couple of batches of kombucha brewing and some beet kvass ready to store in my fridge as well.  I'll also be lining up an appointment for Eva with Dr. Gleixner as soon as she gets home, apparently our supplemental health insurance will cover 80% of the cost up to a certain amount each year, YAY! 

I'm not sure how difficult this is going to be, I do know that the change will not be fun at first, especially after coming back from grandma's house, a processed/refined food nightmare (I try not to think about it).  I'm thinking about school lunches, I'll have 3 in school this year.  I'm thinking about all the food available at school from breakfast club to halloween, christmas, and valentine's parties, to birthday cupcakes sent in by other moms.  How will I deal with all this?  I'm considering having the school freezer stocked with a few cookies and other healthy treats for those unexpected treat days if possible. 

So in all my surfing, here are a few great and very interesting sites and blogs I've run across:

The Spunky Coconut, a blog written by a mom of two young children with various health challenges who has authored a cookbook that I WANT. 

The Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking, an intriguing concept I think, with recipes (and recipe ebooks available) and thoughts by Sharon A. Kane who I discovered when she commented on one of my posts

The GAPS diet, based on Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride.