You guys, I used to be bad at making cookies.

But look at those beauties, no way I fail at making cookies anymore.  I figured out my problem.  When I bake cookies, I try to make them "healthy cookies."  Substituting ingredients, swapping things around, and it never works in my favor.  No matter how scientifically I think about it.  So I went with my gut, and decided that I would make real-deal cookies.  The kind that has butter and sugar and lots of amazing fillings.  Because everything in moderation, right?  Let's just say moderation was tricky with these bad boys because they were "so good you have to hide them in the freezer cookies."  

So like I said before, when I get too experimental with a cookie recipe, it never works out in my favor.  I have to give credit to Jessica, because her oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is literally the best.  I used her recipe and made a few tweaks to it to give it that coffee, walnut and sea salt flare you're oh so curious about.  I have to also give credit to Cait as well because I was scouring the web to see who else had done this before and she's clearly a coffee lover like me.  

So I see so much potential for creating new types of cookies with the base of this cookie recipe.  I've already had requests for trail mix cookies.  Which is actually one of my favorite types of cookies.  You know, putting allllll the dried fruit and nuts into the cookie?  But not raisins, because I hate raisins.  If you love them, I apologize.  But don't add them to the coffee cookies, because that would be weird.

I've got a chocolate recipe that your heart will fall in love with...

So today is Recipe Redux day and you know what that means.  I'm blogging with a theme:
Favorite Chocolate Matches
Does your chocolate need a friend? This month’s posting will be after Valentine’s Day, so you may have a bit of extra chocolate around. What’s your favorite chocolate match? Be it traditional peanut butter or something more exotic like cayenne + chocolate. Show us your favorite healthy chocolate combo recipe.

I was going to share this recipe with you this month anyway, because after demoing it at a wellness center earlier this month, I fell in love.  My heart fell in love; literally and figuratively.  For those of you who didn't know, February is heart health month.    This recipe is very heart healthy, and I like it when my heart is healthy.  Don't you?  

I'll tell you the truth when I first saw people of the internet making puddings with avocados, I was quite skeptical.  Like how could chocolate and avocado actually pair together?  How could you get a pudding our mousse from something that grows from the ground?  Well, it works.  Avocados are rich, creamy and blend up in the food processor to creamy perfection.  Full of heart healthy fats, you can feel good about eating this pudding and there is NO DAIRY IN IT.  That's right!  So I guess you could say for those of you who follow special diets, that it's pretty much appropriate for everyone:  paleo, vegan, vegetarian, dairy free.  I think people who don't like fun are the only ones who'll be opting out of this recipe.  

While I think the avocado and chocolate make pretty great friends, you can absolutely jazz this up with even more exciting flavor pairings.  I like adding cinnamon, which you'll see in the recipe below.  A little sweet and a little spicy...it's perfect.  But you could change the flavor however you want!  Use coconut milk to get a coconut and chocolate pairing.  Add ginger.  The options are endless.  If you want to be super sneaky, serve this one to kids and don't tell them what the secret ingredient is until after they tell you it's awesome.  After you thank me for getting your kids to eat something green, tell me what your favorite chocolate pairing is!