Saturday, January 10, 2009

Healthy Cookies?

Well, a girl can dream. As we speak, I am making some cranberry/oatmeal/walnut cookies. Will they be good? Will they be bad? Only time will tell.

It all began with this recipe for the Best Oatmeal Cookies. However, as you know, I am attempting to be a Fitness Lady in the '09, and so, this recipe didn't quite fall into line with that plan.

So here's what I did, with changes noted in parentheses after the original ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 cup raisins(I used dried cranberries because I like them better.)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup butter(I used 2/3 cup applesauce/ 1/3 cup olive oil)
  • 1 cup brown sugar(I used about 1/3 cup)
  • 1 cup white sugar(I used 1 cup splenda)
  • 2 1/2 cups flour(I used whole wheat flour)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon(Iused this, but I also added about 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans(I used about 1 cup of chopped walnuts instead)
Directions (with my modifications)
  1. This is a very important first step that makes the cookie: combine eggs, dried cranberries and vanilla and let stand for one hour.
  2. Cream together applesauce, olive oil, and sugars.
  3. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and soda and mix well. (This is a very stiff dough. I did this step and step four with my hands. I feel like if I had a Kitchenaid Mixer that it would be up to the job, but my hand-mixer told me to fuck right off.)
  4. Blend in egg-cranberry mixture, oatmeal, and chopped nuts.
  5. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet, or roll into balls and flatten slightly. (I lined my cookie sheets with parchment papers; also, I found you have to flatten the cookies once you drop them on to the sheet - mine did not flatten on their own in the first batch)
  6. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. (In my crappy electric oven, I found they needed to go closer to 15 minutes)
I know a few of you out here are vegans, and according to the comments at Recipezaar at least 1 person figured out how to transform this recipe into a vegan form. The cookies are crunchy on the outside (how I prefer an oatmeal cookie) moist and delicious on the inside (that trick with the soaking of the dried fruit makes a HUGE difference in texture and flavor), and while I know that mine are whole grain, low fat, low sugar, I still suspect that they may be incredibly bad for me, if the deliciousness of them is any indication. Am wondering whether it is wrong to eat cookies for dinner. I suspect it may be wrong. Must let cookies cool and then put them away so will not eat 75 cookies. Eating 75 cookies is no way to be a Fitness Lady.

4 comments:

canuck_grad said...

When I read this all I could think was:

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?
Crazy stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

As per these commercials:
http://www.smartforlife.com/

Maybe your cookies are miracle weight loss cookies and you don't know it! Try eating 6 cookies per day plus one balanced meal like chicken and vegetables, and see if you lose 3-4 pounds in a week. ;)

Science Dinosaur said...

Thanks for this! We recently figured out that hubby is lactose intolerant, so I'm always on the lookout for new recipes (especially baking ones!).

gwinne said...

Sounds great! LG and I made snickerdoodles this afternoon. I need to get them in the freezer before I eat them all :)

Bardiac said...

Yummy!

Do the cranberries get chopped up with all the mixing? I prefer raisins, and add them at the very end. :) I've made cookies with cranberries for friends, and I'm guessing cranberries are LOTS better (less sugary) for you.