blank slate mint cacao nib cookies

Fascinating thing about this mint cacao chip cookie experiment.

Day one: Disappointment. Didn’t taste the way I had wanted. Day three: Fished ’em out’a the fridge with zero high hopes. Well suddenly I was *loving* them.

Has this ever happened to you?

Guess I let them be themselves without expecting something else. (I think this would work with relationships too, by the way. 😉)

I’ll call it the When Harry Met Sally effect. A gazillion years ago I saw that movie for the very first time on the advice of a friend who’d said it was the funniest movie he’d ever seen in his life. I didn’t think it was as funny as he’d told us it was and was actually sorta disappointed. For some crazy reason I wound up seeing it again and at that point it became one of my all time favorite flicks. What the heck?

Seems like sometimes when I go in with a certain expectation, things may fall short and I get disappointed. Drop all expectations, go in with a blank slate, and I open to the full experience.

I know this is an awful lot to put on a cookie 😉 but human behavior has always fascinated me … Makes me wonder about life … How to balance having a positive expectation (which you’d think would create a positive experience) with “not expecting anything,” thereby not feeling let down, thereby opening to *everything* including a positive experience.

Open to your thoughts. (If one’a them is, “Girl, you think too much!” I get it, I do! Go grab a snack and we’ll catch up on a future post. 😊❤) For my friends who also ponder stuff, I’d love to hear what you think. Love you guys!

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Blank Slate Mint Cacao Nib Cookies 

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 3/4 cup oatmeal, ground in food processor til consistency of thick flour
• 1 large banana, overripe*
• 1 tbsp cashew butter
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp mint extract
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp sweet cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 350. Set aside cacao nibs and blend everything else in food processor, scraping down sides, til well combined. Add cacao nibs. Drop in rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheet, flattening each one. Bake til cooked through but before bottom browns, about 10 – 15 min. Cool and enjoy!

* Use a banana that’s just begun to develop brown spots on it. They’re naturally super sweet and this recipe needs that.