Cookies made of Love
Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
Basic recipe divided into 2 flavors takes me approximately 3 hours from start to finish, including kitchen clean up.
FLAVORS: Strawberry, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry-Orange, Carrot-Zucchini, Blueberry-Apple, Pumpkin, Pineapple, Lemon Poppy Seed, Cranberry, Banana-Apricot, Tomato, and Gingerbread.
READ THIS PARAGRAPH BEFORE SHOPPING FOR INGREDIENTS: Flavor ingredients are listed on page 2-3. Decide which flavor(s) you will be making and purchase the ingredients necessary for that particular flavor as well as basic recipe.
READ THIS PARAGRAPH THE DAY BEFORE PREPARING THE RECIPE: The particular flavor you choose may have ingredients that require earlier preparation and cooling before they can be added to the basic recipe mixture. Note that sweet potatoes and other vegetables need to be cooked ahead of time and allowed time to cool.
REFRIGERATE COOKIES: Cookies not eaten the first day should be refrigerated or frozen, because some ingredients, especially sweet potatoes, spoil too quickly at room temperature. I make a double batch for myself and freeze 2/3 of them, since they last me about 3 weeks. I recommend freezing, if you are keeping the cookies over 2 weeks.
The trick to fresh-tasting flavorful cookies is to heat each one in the microwave before eating. Microwave each cookie for 10-15 seconds. If frozen, microwave 15-20 seconds.
BASIC RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Yield: 100 – 125 cookies or 2 full cookie sheets of bars
NOTE: After mixing the basic ingredients, you may want to divide dough in half to make 2 different flavored cookies. (Please note that flavoring ingredients lists are for ½ of the dough from this recipe. If you choose to make only raisin cookies, for instance, double the flavoring ingredients for the full recipe below.)
¼ C olive oil
6 eggs or egg beaters
2 C skim or low-fat milk
5 C unprocessed WHEAT or OAT BRAN
1 ½ C old fashioned rolled oats
2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 T baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 to 3/4 C honey (The lower amount of honey the less sweet you can expect. If unsure whether the amount of honey you add will be sweet enough for your taste buds, bake a few test cookies on a tray in toaster oven or regular oven. If you find it isn’t sweet enough, you can add more honey to the already-mixed batter and do another test.
Note: (The least expensive bran I found was at a bulk health food store – $.39 lb. vs $1.99 for 12 oz at the standard grocers) Optional: you can substitute a portion of bran, say ½ C wheat GERM for ½ C BRAN Bran Source: Martin’s Bulk Foods in Ohio: 330 482-4259 ($.39 lb.)
DIRECTIONS—PART 1
Beat oil with eggs until well mixed. Add milk, then bran and optional wheat germ. Beat thoroughly to mix, at low speed. Add the sweet potatoes, honey and/or other sweetener, mixing in well and then set bowl aside. Do not add honey to recipe for vegetable cookies.
DIRECTIONS—PART 2
In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, baking powder, and soda along with dry spices from the chosen flavoring mix. (I usually divide the dough in half, so I wait and add the dry spices after divided and just stir in really well.)
Stir or slowly beat dry ingredients of PART 2 into PART 1 prepared mixture, then add oatmeal, if particular cookie flavor calls for it.
DIRECTIONS—PART 3
If you want to divide the dough for two to four different flavors, do so before proceeding to Part 3. Add the somewhat LIQUID or MUSHY ingredients from the flavoring chosen to the combined PART 1 and PART 2 prepared mixture. Mushy flavoring ingredients are noted with asterick*. After mixed, add chopped fruit or fruit pieces and any other flavor ingredients left. Combined mixture should be the consistency of very soft mashed potatoes or thick baby food. (Be sure you have added honey or sweetener!)
NOTE: Since this recipe is sweetened to my taste buds, you may want to bake a few small cookies as test samples before filling a whole cookie sheet. (I do this in the toaster oven, as quicker than larger oven.) If the baked sample is not sweet enough for you, add more honey to the mixture. If the dough is thicker, it makes a more solid cookie—thinner dough makes a lighter fluffier cookie. I like a lighter fluffier cookie. If too thick, add milk, if too thin, add more bran.
DIRECTIONS—PART 4
Spray cookie sheets with no calorie cooking spray. Spoon each cookie equal to a tablespoon of dough onto cookie sheets. Bake 15 – 25 minutes or until cookies start to brown on bottom– 375 degrees. Remember to freeze cookies you don’t eat the first day, as they are perishable. Remember also, for fresh baked flavor, heat each cookie in the microwave 10-15 seconds.
Yields 100 – 125 cookies
CHOICES OF FLAVORING MIXES
NOTE: Drained canned or frozen fruit may be substituted for fresh or dried fruit. Flavoring ingredients are to be added to 1/2 of the basic recipe ingredients from top of the page.
Apple/Blueberry Flavoring
Add the following fruit:
2 C* blueberries*
1 1/4 C apple (chopped fine and cooked)
2 T orange rind (grated)
Apricot/Banana Flavoring
Add the following fruit:
1 ½ C* ripe bananas (mashed)
½ C dried apricots (chopped into small pieces)
Carrot/Zucchini Flavoring
Add the following fruit/vegetables:
¾ C* cooked carrots (mashed)
¾ C* cooked zucchini (mashed)
1 C raisins (soften by soaking in warm water)
Optional: Add 1 t coconut extract to minced zucchini and let mixture stand 1 hour to allow zucchini to absorb coconut flavor.
Add the following spices:
1T cinnamon
¾ t nutmeg
Chocolate Chip or Raisin Flavoring (Traditional)
Add the following fruit/vegetable:
1 ½ C* cooked sweet potatoes (mashed)
1 t vanilla
¼ C mini chocolate chips or raisins
(soften raisins by soaking in water)
Chocolate Chip/Almond Flavoring
Add the following fruit/vegetable:
1 ½ C* cooked sweet potatoes (mashed)
¼ C mini chocolate chips or raisins
(soften raisins by soaking in water)
Add the following spices:
1 T amaretto liqueur
2 t almond extract
¼ t coconut extract
Cranberry/Orange Flavoring
Add the following fruit/vegetables:
¼ of a 16 oz can cranberry sauce*
¾ C* sweet potatoes (mashed, cooked and cooled)
¾ C* cauliflower (mashed, cooked and cooled)
1 C dried cherry or orange flavored cranberries
Add the following spices:
1 t grated orange rind
½ t cinnamon
Note: If you use this flavoring, you may want to omit honey or reduce sweetener as the cranberry sauce adds a lot of sweetness.
Gingerbread Flavoring
Use same flavoring mix as Chocolate Chip without chips, with these exceptions:
Use 2/3 molasses and 1/3 honey
Add the following spices:
1 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
½ t ground cloves
Note: You can also substitute low-fat buttermilk for milk
Pineapple Flavoring
Add the following fruit/vegetables:
¾ C crushed pineapple
¾ C* shredded/ minced zucchini
(marinate pineapple with zucchini for 1 hour)
Add the following spices:
1 T cinnamon
½ t allspice
You may also add:
¾ C blueberries
Pumpkin Flavoring
Add the following vegetable:
½ can pumpkin (15 oz. can)
Add the following spices:
2T pumpkin pie spice
1 t nutmeg
Also add:
½ C raisins
You may also want to add other dried fruits, such as chopped apricots, prunes, apples
(soften dried fruits in hot water)
Raisin Flavoring
Add the following vegetable/fruit:
1 ½ C* cooked sweet potatoes (mashed)
¼ C raisins (soften raisins by soaking in water)
Add the following spices:
1 T cinnamon
¾ t nutmeg
Raspberry/Blueberry White Chocolate Flavoring
Add the following fruits:
2 C red raspberries*
1 C blueberries
Also add:
¼ to ½ C. white chocolate chips
(tiny chips or mince regular size chips)
Strawberry Flavoring
Add the following fruit:
2 C* strawberries (soften by mashing or blending)
Add the following dry spices:
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
Also add:
½ C extra bran
½ C extra flour
½ C extra milk
Tomato Flavoring (for vegetable bars)
Add the following vegetable:
8 oz* tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce
1 C dried tomatoes (chopped in mini-chip size)
8 green olives (chopped)
8 black olives (chopped)
1/3 C gorgonzola cheese
Calculating the cookie calories by adding calories of your particular brand.
The brands I used added up like this:
2C flour………………………..800 cal
5 C bran…………………… 500 cal
2 C milk……………………… 180 cal
6 T (1/4 c)oil/shortening… 720 cal
6 eggs………………………….450 cal (can use egg beaters and reduce calories to 200)
honey………………………….360 cal (¼ C)
Flavoring need added to get an accurate calorie count:
Caution: Certain brands and flavor ingredients may add more calories per cookie than others.
Total the ingredient calories and then divide by the number of cookies yielded from the recipe.
This recipe is by Sandra Hughes and her company www.e-ii.org A great place to learn to understand EQ knowledge and how to apply it!
