Snickers Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I was with a client this past weekend and we were talking about "food rules" and how having them can be harmful and even passed unknowingly down to children. With her permission, I am sharing this conversation. Children pick up on comments, perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors around everything- to include eating habits. Parents have the power to lead by example and encourage food curiosity in their households. Restricting foods, or using them as a reward or punishment can be damaging. Listening to their body should be one of the innate and cool things to do, so invite them to participate in the meal planning, grocery shopping, and even preparing of meals (permitted they are of age to be wilding a knife around- lol). But get them excited about it, it's a great way to establish a solid foundation for life skills later on.

Cookies came up in the conversation and she expressed that she didn't want to have them in her house because she didn't want her kids to eat them all and gain unnecessary weight. This is a direct reflection of an insecurity and diet culture perception that has been imbedded in her and she is projecting onto her children. I explained to her that this fear is real, however it has been created by an industry that profits on fear mongering of being overweight. Foods should not have "good/bad" labels, when working with children you can instead call certain foods "fun" foods, "everyday",  or "special" foods, talk about what all foods offer, have conversations about how they feel when they eat certain foods & when. I love to talk to my nieces and nephews about energy and nutrition and which nutrients offer my body really great things that keep me healthy and strong. When talking about "fun" foods with them, things such as ice cream, candy, cookies, etc, I explain how delicious they can be, how satisfying, but how they don't do too much to my hunger. I then explain how other foods help me feel full and how these everyday foods help me all day long. No way is the best way, but the greatest impact you can have on these influential minds is to offer a variety of foods with no shame, guilt, or negative connotation around meal/snack time. Food is for life, so start healthy habits early!

My client expressed her concerns of projecting her food fears onto her children. To avoid this in the home there are ways in which you can shift the impact diet culture has. Encourage conversations about the sensory experience that food offers, such as the texture, smells, appearances, and others beyond taste. Not to mention this can help open up new lines of communication between you and them, inviting creativity and new ways to think of things.Life is fleeting so eat the cookies, eat your traditional homemade recipes, eat the fruit and veggies, eat your favorite feel good meals, and above all- EAT!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 Hershey's Bar (chopped into small pieces)
2 Snicker's Almond Bars (chopped into small pieces)

How to:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually mix in flour mixture to butter mixtures to form a stiff dough.
Stir in chopped chocolate bars.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop dough into 3 Tbsp sized balls (2-inch cookie scoop) and place on paper evenly spaced.
Place in oven and bake 10-12 mins until just golden brown, remove from oven and let cookies rest for 2-3 mins on pan before removing to cooling racks.

Makes about 18-20 cookies, depending on size.

* This recipe was modified from a Kirkland's (Costco) Magazine.