The Lentil-Coconut-Oatmeal Cookie Bars

They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. “Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!” they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen.

There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes.

Despite the heat, the mess, and the inevitable Cinderella-esque cleanup for the scattered lentils, it’s totally worth it to make these bars.

The lentils-coconut combination is classic. Usually, I pair them in winter stews, though — I’d never mixed them with sugar and sweet spice before. So when I was given this delightful cookie recipe, I obviously had to try it. Like the I DARE YOU cookies, the lentils magically disappeared into them. Where do they GO? Only Cinderella knows.

To make The Lentil-Coconut-Oatmeal Cookie Bars, I added more eggs, more lentils (oh yes), swapped olive oil for the butter, and added some applesauce. They taste like sweet, warm, coco-nutty oatmeal cookies in the form of a breakfast bar. But, with all those lentils secretly added in, these are filling. They also have complete protein, if you’re into that sort of thing, so they make a great breakfast-on-the-run.

Where I live, it’s about 5,000 degrees right now. But, what was air conditioning invented for, if not to allow you to cook coconut treats in the summertime?

Ingredients

1 ½ cups rolled oats

1 ½ cups brown rice flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups cooked brown lentils

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup applesauce or mashed banana

1 cup dried fruit (I like dates or raisins best for these)

2/3 cup chopped nuts (hazelnuts or walnuts, optional)

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a 9×13” pan with parchment paper and spray it with olive oil.

2. Measure out a cup of lentils, sort and rise and cook them with two cups of water for about 30 minutes. You’ll have a little bit left over this way (about a half cup), but then you can throw it on your salad tomorrow. Or, make two cups of lentils, and have a LOT leftover — why not?

3. While they cook, combine the oats, flour, sugar, spice, and baking soda.

4. The lentils are done now, right? Puree those suckers in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Scrape down the edges, and puree until smooth. Add in the vanilla, eggs, olive oil, and applesauce or banana. Puree!

5. Pour the lentil mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add in raisins and nuts (if desired). Mix until combined. Now, add coconut, and give it a couple more loving little stirs. Perfect.

6. Spoon the mixture into your prepared pan and use your spatula to even it out. Sprinkle a little extra coconut on top and smoosh it down one more time.

7. Bake for 25–35 minutes. Less time will get you a softer, chewier bar, more will give you a crispier, drier one. Store any extras in the fridge or freezer. I like them at room temperature. I also like toasting them and pretending they’re lentil-coconut biscotti. Enjoy!

Previously: The Double-Dare You Hot Chickpea Brownies

Natalie Eve Garrett is cooking with the A/C on high. Prints of her paintings and yogurt ghosts are available here.