Hemlock Heaven at Bear Swamp!

Thanksgiving weekend: Saturday was a cloudy chilly day with intermittent rain showers and the grey sky was spitting snowflakes. In the afternoon it suddenly cleared and a bit of serendipity occurred. We were headed for the Bear Swamp Trail in Ashfield, MA. After taking a few wrong turns, ahead of us was a back entrance for the trail with only one other car parked in the lot!

As we entered the woods, the sun was shining and we were enveloped by a canopy of lush verdant hemlocks. Some were towering and majestic and hundreds of smaller baby hemlocks lined both sides of the trail, so many, that it appeared to be a groundcover.

We thought that the nursery of tiny trees were seedlings, but a local forester from Northwest, CT explained to us that they were most likely sucker plants originating from a larger tree. It made me wonder what conditions cause certain species to thrive; rich soil, access to a good water source? We also often see unusual and beautiful fungi that thrive on old trees and moss. On the other hand, what conditions and events cause despots to thrive and control masses of people? What allows deadly viruses to run rampant?

I will leave this for the historians and scientists to ponder. For the moment, it was time for me to thrive in my kitchen with my wonderful new oven and try to recreate the vegan peanut butter cookies that I am addicted to from the Woodstar Cafe in Northhampton, MA! From the cafe’s website menu, I knew that the ingredients included almond flour, ground flaxseed, crunchy peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla and baking powder. I had no idea of the amounts, so I took a chance and guessed. The great news is that the result was really delicious -not quite a chewy as Woodstar’s – lighter and not so sweet, and maybe this is not good; just as addictive! I discovered that a few pieces of Lily’s Stevia Sweetened Chocolate eaten with one of the cookies, tasted like a healthy version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup! AND, they are very easy to make!

EASY One Bowl Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Pre-heat oven to 350

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper

Ingredients:

1 cup crunchy peanut butter* see note

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1 teaspoon baking powder

To make cookies:

In a medium sized bowl, mix together peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla. Combine well with a large spoon.

Add almond flour, ground flax seed and baking powder. Mix well, the batter will be stiff, but not dry.

Form batter into small balls- I made 15, but you could make fewer larger cookies.

Press gently with a fork to make a criss cross pattern.

Bake in middle of oven for about 1o minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are light brown- the cookies will still feel quite soft.

Note* I used peanut butter that was salted. If you use an unsalted brand, add about 1/2 teaspoon salt to the batter.

Let cool and Enjoy!

For those new to my blog, I need to explain that I am a bit obsessed with trees and I love to anthromorphize them! Here is my “Tree of the Week”!

Please stay safe!!