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A Heart-Healthy Cookie
October 2, 2007 |
Joanna at Joanna’s Food and the Heart of the Matter Blog manages one of our favourite food blogging events.
She posed a challenge yesterday.
You’ll have realised by now that this post is a cry for help … we’re looking for heart-healthy baking recipes. That means NO butter and not much marge. Not many egg yolks. No cream. No cheese to speak of. Not a lot of oil, even if it is olive oil. You see the problem. Off the top of my head, we’re down to meringues and macaroons. As we’re all after a healthier lifestyle, and as SO many food bloggers like to bake, I feel sure that you’ve all got at least one delicious yet low-fat cake or biscuit recipe that you use in your kitchen … you’d be doing me, and countless others, a huge favour if you’d share it.
This recipe was created last night. We hardly ever bake cookies, ‘cos each cookie recipe seems to start with 1/2 cup butter, and crazy amounts of sugar. We set out to make something different, and ended up with these. They tasted great, and took 20 minutes, start to finish. (We didn’t wait for them to cool down :D)
The fat in these cookies comes from nut butter. Peanuts, almonds, cashews or hazelnuts can be used for this. Nut butters are also a protein-rich spread on toast.
NUT BUTTER
(From Slashfood)
For half cup nut butter
1 cup chopped nuts (we used skinned, slivered almonds)
1.5 to 2 tbsps oil
Blend these together to a smooth paste. (If you wish to use this as a spread, add a pinch each of salt and sugar)
HEART-HEALTHY COOKIES
(Makes 12 small cookies)
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tablespoon oat bran or ground oatmeal
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (or oat bran/ground oatmeal)
3 tablespoons sugar (we used raw cane sugar) **see note below
1/2 tsp unsulphured molasses (optional)
1 egg white (2 tablespoons)
1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a few drops of almond extract (optional)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tablespoons dried cranberries (or dried cherries/raisins)
**We use 1/2 to 1/3 of the amount of sugar recommended in any recipe. Even 3 tablespoons was sweeter than we liked. You may not find this sweet enough. Taste the batter and add more sugar if you wish to.
**The egg can be replaced with 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp water
** The molasses is for a deeper flavour. Half the sugar can be replaced with jaggery for a similar effect.
** If you want a crisper cookie, add more oat bran to make a drier batter and bake longer.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicone.
2. Mix everything except the cranberries in a bowl. It will be a very sticky mass - like thick glue. Add the cranberries and mix lightly.
3. Take a tablespoon and spoon 12 roughly equal portions on to the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake for 11-13 minutes until the cookies are golden along the edges.
5. Let them rest for a few minutes. Take a spatula and carefully place them over a wire rack to cool and set completely.
Also see our heart-healthy Applesauce-Oatmeal Raisin Cake
UPDATED: October 28, 2007: Roundup here.
Joanna also honoured us with the Nice Matters Award. Thank you, Joanna. We are surprised and touched.
We would like to pass it on to all our readers and blogger friends who make their presence felt here with their comments, suggestions and encouragement. For years, we visited blogs and lurked on the sidelines without leaving comments. We either weren’t sure what to say for fear of appearing foolish, or thought it was not important to acknowledge how much we enjoyed the fruits of someone else’s hard work and creativity.
Now, when we have our own little corner in cyberspace, we realise how much feedback and encouragement mean to a blogger. A lot of effort goes into maintaining a public forum like a blog. Thank you for letting us know when you drop by, and for helping us improve this blog with your interaction, wisdom, praise and constructive criticism. It’s nice to have an idea of whose lives we touch, and in what ways.
There are three people in particular - Manisha, Musical and Nirmala - who our spam filters have been harassing for months. Yet, they doggedly lend us their encouragement and support. If their comments don’t reach us, they send us e-mails. They don’t have to, but they do.
Thank you.
Almond, Cranberry, Flax seeds, heart-healthy-cookie, low-fat, nut-butter, NUTRITION, Oats, vegetarian recipes
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Hi..
Ur blog is really very nice…
Yummy recipes and nice snaps…!!
Keep rocking !!
Happy diwali !!
:yes:
simply wonderful and well put!!
:horn:
my compliments!
an ultimate resort …when my brains get fatigued from “aj kya banaau”.
:bow: superb!! keep it up!!
i am writing a cook book for making the kitchen “drudgery” simple and tasty…boss! wish me luck
It’s very healthy heart cookies recipe and I’ll try it
[...] Also see our Heart-Healthy Cookies [...]
these turned out really nice, thanks for sharing the recipe.
the only alteration i made was using 1tbsp brown sugar and 6-8 dates for sweetness.