Choc Chip Cookies (gluten free + vegan)

The ultimate taste test presented itself when my Sis and my niece and nephew came to visit this past weekend. I packed the cookies away thinking they would be a delish snack for all of us, but also fearing the worlds harshest critics (kids) would let me know if my cookies were rubbish or not.

As someone who adores cooking for others and showing my love through food, I find it hilariously ironic that the little humans I love most on the planet have the ability to crush me in an instant. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic, but when you spend hours making what you think is a great ‘kid friendly’ bolognese to see them picking bits out and asking ‘what’s this?’ you know you’ve got a lot to learn.

Conversely, when kids like or LOVE your food its like the ultimate dopamine hit for me. The trifecta is if my hubby and the kids like it. That packs all the good feels.

Personally I’m all about these Choc Chip Cookies right now. I’ve been blown away by the change in my tastebuds and cravings this past 12 months. The increased calorie demand and carbohydrate demand from trail running (still combined with a few key gym sessions per week) has had a radical impact on dietary habits I’ve had for a decade or more.

For instance, I have always been about dark chocolate with a rice milk dandelion tea after dinner. Its been like a religious event for me. Anyone that knows me would see this as part of my personality. However, the past 12 months I’ve completely lost interest in this night time routine and wanted instead like granola and muesli, or apple crumble, or cookies. Chocolate alone is out the window, the thought of my dandelion tea no longer excites me. Its an existential crisis! Who am I!?!

Luckily as a clinical nutritionist its easy to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Of course I want more carbohydrates over fats to refill my glycogen stores from the higher cardio demand. Of course I need more calories overall. Its a place where I can see I am lucky knowing so many people (clients included) who fall into the dangerous trap of not meeting calorie and macro intake demands with the output of their training load.

As woman in particular, society still holds notions of eating smaller petite portions and conforming to a body ideal. This is a dangerous space when mixed with a high training volume. I see it all too often.

There is also a lack of understanding of how we fuel our training. I always talk to my clients about seeing food as the fuel we put into the engine to get the best performance and recovery. The beauty is when we provide the right building blocks the changes can be instantaneous for many. Just last week one of my clients went from feeling fatigued, unable to perform as well with an increase in previously settled gut symptoms to feeling energised and healthy within days. All because we had her change her food intake (which included more!) to support her increased training load.

It brings me so much joy to see this. Similar to the appreciative smiles of my niece and nephew after eating these Choc Chip Cookies, the dopamine hit I get from a client feeling energised and hitting their performance goals without injury or body breakdown is just as high up there.

As for me, as my own training load slowly builds over the months ahead with some races dispersed between in the build up to Kosci100 (yep I signed up!), I’ll be continuing to eat my own body weight in food which I am sure will include many Choc Chip Cookies.