Vegan Flaxy, Fruity, and Nutty Pulp Cookies (and Muffins)

I've been juicing more and more, but hate to waste all that wonderful pulp, so I started playing around with baking it into stuff. These treats are not super pretty, but they are yummy, healthy-ish, vegan, dense, nourishing, and fiber-ific! 

This is also a very versatile recipe where you can use different types of pulp, dried fruit, nuts, or seeds (or even chocolate chips!) to suit your mood!

Ingredients:
Juicer pulp (see tips below)
1/3 cup ground flax
1 cup whole wheat flour
2-4 tbsp maple syrup, agave, or other sweetener (depending on how sweet you like your food)
1 large ripe banana (about 3/4 cup mashed)
2 tbsp nut or seed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruit
1/4 cup chopped nuts or seeds (optional)
1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or thawed berries (optional)

Tips:
* If you don't have a juicer, you can grate carrots and other veggies to use in this recipe, but you'll want to omit the milk, and possibly include more flour/flax depending on how wet your veggies are.
* All different types of pulp can be used. This batch has carrot, ginger, cucumber, and rainbow chard (but I opted not to include the pulp from the parsley, cilantro, and celery since they have stronger flavors that I didn't want in my treats).
* You can also include fruit pulp, such as pineapple or apple, to make it sweeter and possibly not need the sweetener in the recipe.
* Some pulp is stringy (like my chard), so I used kitchen shears to snip it up a little.
* For the berries, you can use chopped strawberries, blueberries, or what I did -- a combination of blackberries and raspberries.

Measure out your flour and ground flax by spooning it into the measuring spoon instead of scooping it up. Dump it all in a large bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix it all well and then add the nuts and dried fruit (in my case, walnuts and raisins).

*If using a regular oven, preheat it to 350 degrees now.

Instead of egg, we are using a mashed ripe banana, so put it in a shallow bowl and mash it up with a fork.
*If you don't have a ripe banana, you can substitute 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree.

In another large bowl, combine the pulp, banana, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and milk and mix it well.
It was easier for me to dig in with my hands... plus I really like playing with my food =)

*Note: the berries have not been added yet.

Add the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix it well (with your fingers). It will be a very dense blob!
From here you can make cookies (without the berries) or muffins (with the berries).

Roll the dough into 1.5" balls and flatten them a little into... well, cookies!
Bake them on parchment paper for about 20 minutes. (I use a convection toaster oven, so it only took about 18 minutes at 325 degrees.)
Once it's done, cool them on a rack for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

For the muffins, I folded in the berries and spooned the mixture into silicone baking cups (of course paper works too). You'll bake them for 30 minutes and cool them on a rack as well.

Both the muffins and cookies are really dense (the way I love my baked treats), and would be perfect to take on a hike or post-workout snack. I spread a little sunflower butter on top and it was heaven! Ooo, or you could make some vegan cashew cream and turn them into cupcakes... delish!!

Happy healthy-ish snacking! =D