These are the paleo peppermint Oreos that almost weren’t. I had this brilliant idea for my friend Erin @ The Speckled Palate‘s annual Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange, where a group of awesome food bloggers share their best Christmas cookie recipes. “Paleo peppermint Oreos!” I exclaimed, as though struck by a bolt from Zeus himself. “What else do I gorge on each year and wish, really wish, I could have? Peppermint Oreos, of course!” («< Pretty sure that’s how it happened.) But the thing is… paleo baking is hard. It’s not like vegan baking, or even “no refined flour or sugar” baking, where you still get to use erm, wheat. Nope – it’s a whole different ballgame. I very rarely absolutely destroy a recipe I’m testing, but it happens fairly frequently with paleo recipe development. But when I nail it, oh… oh, it’s so satisfying. So when I wasn’t satisfied with any of the paleo frosting base recipes I was finding, I decided to wing it. And what resulted was a speckled half-red-half-brown, gloppy, oil mess that slid off my crunchy chocolate cookies. I dumped it promptly into the trash and texted Erin that I’d failed her and wouldn’t have a cookie recipe this year. I saved the cookies, hoping I could salvage them somehow… but the next morning decided to try just one more recipe. A quick trip to Whole Foods with Leo, which turned into a long trip to Whole Foods after discovering little man actually likes clementines (which might surprise you, considering I thought the only think he likes is peanut butter, so.), and a few ingredients in the food processor for a little bit… and it worked. Not only did the recipe work, but it was great. Crunchy chocolatey cookies filled with minty, creamy frosting, oh! Oh, oh mommy. Worth the fail. So if you’re missing peppermint Oreos this season or are just trying to indulge in a healthier way, you must try these paleo peppermint Oreos. Both the cookies and the frosting come together in the food processor, making them really quite simple and quick for a homemade, healthier sandwich cookie. The crisp of the cookie against the soft, smooth frosting – it’s so worth it.
