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Cinnamon, nutmeg, and rosemary make for some very good cookies–plus, they’re packed with health benefits! These cookies have a wonderful taste that is a little like toffee.

Your roundup of healthy herbs and spices include the following:

Cinnamon is anti-inflammatory, helps promote healthy bacteria in your gut (those good guys that help you digest and assimilate your food), and keeps your blood sugar stable (which helps give you willpower!). It can also help with heart health and can prevent diabetes. 5

Nutmeg has more benefits that you can count. Some of them are: protecting your skin from wrinkles due to the breakdown of elastin in the skin and skin-damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays, providing anti-anxiety and anti-depression benefits, and inhibiting the viral cause of diarrhea. And some studies have found that nutmeg has aphrodisiac activity and increases libido. 6

Rosemary, another wonderful addition to these cookies, has been shown to reduce anxiety, reduce pain in arthritis, and lower blood sugar. Rosemary also helps improve your memory and protect your skin from the sun’s UV radiation. 7

Note that you may want to start soaking nuts and seeds the night before you want to make these cookies (soak for 8–12 hours and see instructions at the beginning of this chapter). Soak the nuts and seeds in separate containers. The recipe itself takes about 5 minutes to prepare once the nuts and seeds are soaked and 18 hours in the food dehydrator (or 10–30 minutes in your oven).

You can dehydrate the sesame seeds by spreading them out flat on a silicone baking sheet and dehydrating for 4–6 hours at 115° F. If you don’t have a dehydrator, put the sesame seeds into a glass baking dish, making sure that they’re spread out in a thin layer (you may need 2 pans). Put your oven on the lowest temperature and heat until dry and slightly brown. Set them aside until you’re ready to make the cookies.

If your food processor or blender is small, you can cut this recipe in half and mix things up separately, then combine in a bowl afterward.

In a food processor with an S-blade, put in the dates and blend until mushy. Now add the soaked nuts and seeds, and blend again. Add the rest of the ingredients and keep blending until the mixture is completely smooth. Add a little filtered water as needed to keep everything blending up properly. Taste the mixture and see if you like it. You can add more dates if you like a sweeter cookie: Start with 2 at a time and taste again if you decide to add more sweetness. You may need to add a little water to get them fully blended. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula to keep things moving.

Scoop out the mixture with a tablespoon and flatten it out onto silicone baking sheets. Put the sheets into your food dehydrator at 115° F. We like these a little moist and chewy, so we take then out before they get too dry or hard (about 18 hours). Leave them in longer if you like a drier cookie.

If you don’t have a food dehydrator, put the cookies on a glass or stainless-steel baking sheet greased with coconut oil, or on a silicone baking sheet over your cookie sheet (the silicone baking sheet does not need to be greased), and put it in your oven at the lowest temperature. Watch the oven for when you want to take them out. It should be anywhere from 10–30 minutes, depending on the lowest temperature of your oven and how dry you want them to be. Keeping your oven on the lowest temperature will be gentler to the nut oils.

Store in your refrigerator for 1 week, or in your freezer for a couple of months. They will thaw quickly, so you may want to make more and freeze them for convenient snacks. Just pull a few out of the freezer, put into a baggie, and take on the go for a healthy snack or dessert on the run!