Carrot Cookies!?

Many autistic children can suffer a range of food intolerances or allergies - our family is no exception. They are intolerant to salicylates, which are found in almost all fruits and many vegetables - symptoms may range from skin rashes to (most commonly) extremes in behaviour, notably intense hyperactivity and rage. They must also avoid many preservatives. I find most people are extremely sceptical about the concept of food chemicals (particularly "healthy" fruits) causing issues - I used to be one of them. I like to suggest feeding my kids commercial garlic bread containing preservative 282, and watch the results for themselves. Most recently we've discovered that Dairy seems to be the cause of their many gastrointestinal troubles, so are now dairy free as well.

For loads of information regarding food intolerances, the best place to begin is Sue Dengates FedUp website. The Royal Prince Alfred Allergies Unit also has a great deal of easily digestible (sigh) information, and they publish a terrific cookbook called Friendly Food.

I need to make almost all of our food from scratch, and one of my lunchbox staples is Carrot Oat cookies! It is dairy free (if made with Nuttlex) and low in salicylates - they're also DELICIOUS. If you can tolerate spices, add some cinnamon and they taste like carrot cake. I usually make a double batch and freeze for school lunches. It's incredibly forgiving so you can modify the ingredients to your hearts content - grated pear is lovely, carob chips make them interesting, or bake as jam drops with a blob of pear jam in the top.

Carrot Cookies

Melt together:
170gm Nuttlex (or butter)
2 tablespoons Golden Syrup (or honey)

Combine:
1 cup self raising wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1 cup oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup grated carrot (I just grate two carrots)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 dark chocolate or carob chips (leave out if you like, or just put a single chip on top)

Mix the melted butter into the dry ingredients. It will be a coarse and crumbly mixture.
Squish spoonfulls and form into balls - press onto your cookie tray - they do not spread much, so press flat if you prefer flatter cookies.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
ENJOY!