Good For Your Skin - Walnut and Cranberry Cookies

Mr 21 Months has mild eczema. He gets little rashes that come and go in patches on his back and face. I have been to my GP and been referred to a Pediatrician and Dermatologist - all of whom have told me he will grow out of it "one day" and when it gets inflamed to use cortisone to keep it under control. I don't like the kids to consume artificial ingredients so putting cortisone on him on and off over a long period of time just makes me shudder.

As I'm studying Nutritional Medicine, and hope to become a fully qualified Nutritionist one of these days, I try to use food, where possible, to treat the children's ailments. So, with his eczema I try eliminate some foods from his diet (under supervision) and give him ones which are meant to help.

In Chemistry at the moment, we're learning about Carbohydrates, Proteins and Lipids/Fats. And, while discussing Lipids, my lecturer happened to mention that people who have too little Polyunsaturated Fat in their diet and suffer dermatitis/eczema, may find that it flares up more often. I love learning little nuggets of information like this.

So, I went on a hunt to find sources of Polyunsaturated Fats to feed to Mr 21 Months and discovered that walnuts are one of the riches sources. So then I went on a hunt to find some Yummy Walnut recipes, as feeding whole walnuts to my little man would pose too much of a choking hazard.

Since it was Passover when I made this interesting discovery, these Walnut Cookies fit the bill perfectly - made predominantly of ground walnuts, they are the ideal solution to help soothe my sons skin. I gave him a "dose" of a couple of cookies a day and I believe that it did help a little. Doesn't hurt that the rest of the family got to enjoy the cookies' yummy goodness too! (seen below with Sugarless Coconut Macaroons)

I used 150g of walnuts and just popped them into my mini food processor to blitz to a fine crumb. The ground nuts do make the batter quite oily, I guess that must be the oil that's good for your skin! Once they are cooked and cooled they are no where near as oily as when you are handling the batter or when they are straight from the oven.

I served the Walnut Cookies in little blue dotty cupcake liners in a cute Bento Lunchbox, along with some pieces of Matzo sandwiched with Homemade Jam and some Pineapple Flowers topped with a couple of dried cranberries.

Not only are these Walnut and Cranberry Cookies incredibly good for you - they also make a simple and healthy kids snack, and are Gluten Free too. 

Good For Your Skin - Walnut and Cranberry Cookies
Adapted from "The Rebbetzin Chef's Persian Walnut Cookies"
150g Ground Walnuts
3 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Honey (or sweetener of choice)
1/3 Cup Cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a baking tray with well greased baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the ground walnuts, egg yolks, honey and cranberries.
3. Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto your greased baking tray and pop in the oven to bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes to allow the cookies to harden so they don't fall apart when you move them to the wire rack to cool.

To recreate the Walnut & Cranberry Cookies and Bento Lunchbox, you'll need:

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