Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

I love making variations of healthy cookies. I eat them for breakfast, as a snack, or just when I am craving something sweet. I really like these because they're sweetened with dates and taste absolutely delicious. This batch is super easy to make in a food processor. I forgot to write down how many this recipe makes, though! Duh! I think it was around 18 small cookies.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 - 10 medjool dates, pitted and soaked for at least an hour
4 tbsp. almond milk
1 tbsp. molasses (I used blackstrap)
3 tbsp. oil or melted margarine
add-ins (I added chocolate chips)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grind up your oats, baking soda, and salt in your food processor. I like my oats somewhat whole so I only processed this mixture for a few seconds.
- Add in your dates, milk alternative, molasses, and oil. Blend this until it becomes a sticky mixture.
- Stir in your add-ins until mixture is well incorporated.

 - Place cookie-sized discs onto a greased cookie sheet. These won't spread when baking so shape accordingly.
- Bake for 10 minutes, leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes while cooling, then transfer to a cooling rack.

- Eat 'em plain, dunk 'em in milk, spread some peanut butter on top... the possibilites are endless. These things are pretty addicting.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies, again

Remember these peanut butter filled chocolate cookies? Yeah, I made them again. This time, though, I sprinkled a little bit of sea salt and sugar on top. They were requested by my brother, a bodybuilder, who was finally done with his prep and could eat sweets again.

If you mail goodies out to family or friends, I recommend choosing these. They held up nicely in the 2000 mile journey! If you don't mail goodies out, I recommend just making these. Make a lot and eat them all by yourself. Seriously, go.

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

You all are very aware that I need sweets in my life. I've been craving vegan cheesecake, tiramisu, chocolate chip cookies, etc. Of course, since I am getting married in July, I can't eat all of these things. I need to look good for my wedding, after all! I made these healthy cookies a while back and thought I'd try to revamp them. I've had these pure fig bars in my pantry for some time now and thought maybe I could try using them in these cookies. Turns out I had a pretty good idea because figs give these babies a nice little crunch! This recipe makes 36 cookies.

Ingredients:
2 c. gluten-free flour (I used Bob's all purpose)
2 c. rolled old-fashioned oats
1 c. raw almonds
4 tbsp. flaxseed meal
2 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt and cinnamon
2 scoops pure stevia (featured in this recipe)*

1/2 c. all natural unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
1 1/4c. almond milk, room temperature
3 tbsp. liquified coconut oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
mix-ins of choice (I chose 1 c. chocolate chips and 2 of these fig bars)

*If you don't have pure stevia, don't fret! Use any sweetener you prefer -- just make sure you reduce the liquid or the dry ingredients, depending on your sweetener.

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a food processor, grind up your oats and almonds until it becomes a flour-like consistency. Add in other dry ingredients and process until just mixed.
- In your stand mixer bowl, mix your liquid ingredients. Make sure your almond milk is room temperature or warm or else your coconut oil will solidify!
- Slowly incorporate your dry into your wet ingredients, mixing it until just combined.

- Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Keep in mind these don't spread out so you can place them fairly close together!

- Bake for 8 minutes, let sit on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling racks.

These aren't as sweet as your average chocolate chip cookie, but they're still sweet enough to fulfill my cravings! They're denser, too, so a little goes a long way. Keep these stored in your freezer and pop one in your lunch bag or eat it on your way to work. It can't get any easier!

Chickpea-Almond-Chocolate Chip Cookies

We bought chickpea flour a couple weeks ago to make falafel, but we ended up finding chickpea/fava bean flour together and bought that as well. When I made falafel a few nights ago with the chickpea/fava bean flour, I realized how fluffy they turned out. I instantly started thinking about making pancakes with the chickpea flour, or waffles, or even... cookies! How didn't I think of this before? There are lots of recipes out there that use whole chickpeas or even whole black beans in desserts. Why wouldn't this work? Well, I literally just made them an hour ago and am already sharing them here because they are SO GOOD. I couldn't wait to share this with everyone! I decided to go ahead and make a healthier type of cookie. I was worried about the sweetness but it wasn't an issue at all. This recipes makes around 14 cookies.

Ingredients:
1 c. chickpea flour
1 c. rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 c. finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp. flaxseed meal
1 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt and cinnamon

1/2 c. unsweetened natural applesauce
1/4 c. unsweetened almond milk
1/2 c. agave
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tbsp. canola oil

1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. almonds, roughly chopped

Instructions:
- Using your food processor, grind your rolled oats into a flour-like consistency.
- Mix all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl, including your oats but not including your chocolate chips and almonds.
- Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl.
- Slowly incorporate your dry into your wet, making sure not to over mix.
- Let sit in refrigerator for 10 minutes while your oven preheats (350 degrees).
- Drop your cookie dough onto a well oiled cookie sheet, making sure to space them apart at least an inch.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until edges start to brown.

- Let cool on a cooling rack until ready to eat!

I am sure proud of these babies! They turned out moist, nutty, sweet, and OH SO GOOD! They are especially yummy right out of the oven. Feel free to use whatever fixings you want... dried fruit, pecans, walnuts, etc. I was really in the mood for some chocolate chip cookies and these seemed to hit the spot. I think next time I'll throw in some dried cranberries as well.

Key Lime Sugar Cookies

As I promised in the last entry, here are some key lime sugar cookies I made for a bake sale that Michael's school was hosting! I used this recipe except I changed all the lemon ingredients to key lime. I also cut the sugar down to just 2/3 cup and topped with a key lime glaze (just key lime juice + powdered sugar) rather than roll the dough in sugar like traditional sugar cookies.

The cookies are THE BEST! Well, at least I think so. They are so moist! I made this batch bigger than what the recipe called for since I was making them for a bake sale, but usually I make them pretty small. They probably would've looked prettier if I had also topped them with a little zest. However, I used my juicer and the zest wasn't just the rind (it was the guts and all) so it wasn't exactly bright green and attractive. I guess it didn't matter how pretty they were because people bought them all up so quickly. I was really hoping there'd be extras but I guess it's good that there weren't since the money went toward supporting music in La Jolla schools. Anyway, I did make another batch. I couldn't resist.

In other non-food related news, we are learning how to surf! This is exciting but very difficult. It definitely requires some patience! We've gone out a few times but neither of us are able to stand up on our boards yet. I've been trying not to eat so many baked goods so that I can get in better shape for surfing purposes. Hopefully I'll be posting some healthier food up on here!

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

These are probably my favorite cookies. However, they take the longest to make. If anyone is interested in making these, make sure you don't have anything going on for a couple of hours! Anyway, I've been making a lot of these recently... for Michael's students, my brother, friends, etc. I think I am going to be done with these for a while. I will admit, though, that these are not my recipe. I use this one. I have a cookbook with the same cookies in them but have way more ingredients. I highly recommend the one I use. The recipe I am posting is double the original recipe. Makes around 50 cookies.

Ingredients:

3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. margarine, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. soy milk

1 c. powdered sugar

1 c. peanut butter

chocolate chips (as many as you like)

Instructions:

- Mix the first three ingredients in a bowl.

- Using a hand or stand mixer, mix the margarine, sugars, and soy milk. After this is smooth looking and all mixed, use a spoon to slowly incorporate the dry ingredients.

- In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. I find it's easiest using my hands for this. This mixture will be your filling.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- I didn't have parchment paper so I just greased up my counters for this next part. I flattened a small ball of the chocolate dough so it's about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place a nickel size ball of the peanut butter mixture on top of your chocolate disc.

- Flatten this with the palm of your hand. Place another chocolate disc on top of this and use your fingers to seal in the edges. This sounds more complicated than it is -- you'll get the hang of it quickly.

- Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes (I always took mine out at exactly 9 minutes). Let sit for a minute on the cookie sheet and place on cooling rack.

- Don't bother to wait until these are cooled to eat them... I sure didn't! The gooeyness of the peanut butter and chocolate chips is perfectly delicious.

Make sure to take these to a party or potluck -- they have always been a huge hit for me. Even though they take a while to make, they're totally worth it. It's also fun not to tell anyone what's in them (unless, of course, they're allergic to peanuts!). Seeing a person's face after they bite into these bad boys is priceless.

Yum.

Pumpkin Cookies w/ Maple Glaze

In celebration of the first day of Autumn, I decided to make pumpkin cookies. I've had a can of pumpkin for a while so I am finally glad I was able to use it! I pretty much modified a few different recipes I found and came up with this recipe, which makes roughly 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

1 c. canned pumpkin

1 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. oil

1/4 c. natural applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ginger

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- In a large bowl, beat pumpkin, sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla with a hand mixer until ingredients are well incorporated.

- In a smaller bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until it's smooth.

- Drop dough using a spoon onto greased cookie sheet. I used the back of a wet spoon to smooth out the texture of the cookies. Sprinkle with a little bit of coarse sugar if you like.

- Bake for 11-13 minutes until the edges are slightly darkened.

- Place cookies on cooling rack and cool completely before glazing.

I wasn't going to glaze these, but I felt like they needed... something. These cookies would've been delicious with some walnuts but unfortunately I didn't have any. For the glaze, I mixed a little bit of maple syrup (the real kind) with a little bit of powdered sugar. I used a spoon and just drizzled it over the cookies.

Let the glaze sit for a while to harden and then serve!

These cookies turned out VERY soft and cakey, which definitely isn't a bad thing! They were very good without the glaze but in the end I was glad I added it. Michael and I both loved them, but the ultimate taste test will be tonight when I give them to his band students at the football game. I also made them peanut butter cookies but forgot to take pictures! I saved my recipe so maybe I will make them again soon to post.

Snickerdoodles

Just a warning... my pictures will be taken on my phone because I am having camera problems. Unfortunately, the quality won't be as good as the other posts. I didn't want to post picture-less posts because who likes recipes without a picture?

Anyway, my family is throwing me a goodbye party tomorrow since I am moving. Of course, I thought I had to bake something for it. I decided on snickerdoodles because I made them before without oil and without white sugar. However, I kept the oil and sugar in these for a different texture than what I had before. Of course, I also don't care if I am eating so crappy because I am moving and all that, ha.

This is a doubled recipe than what I used before as well, but I wanted to make sure I made enough cookies for everyone. This recipe makes like 32 big cookies or 48 smaller ones. Also, I sort of guessed my measurements for the spices. Just keep tasting the dough and add more to your own liking.

Ingredients:

4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

4 tbsp. baking powder

1 c. white sugar

1 c. brown sugar (I used light)

3 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. nutmeg

3 tsp. ginger

2 tsp. salt

1 c. oil (I used canola)

2 tbsp. vanilla

1/2 c. milk alternative (I used soy)

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Add dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.

- Add liquid ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

- Slowly add and mix the liquid into the dry until it's all well incorporated.

- Roll about 1-2 tbsp. of dough and drop onto a greased cookie sheet. Press down on balls of dough to flatten slightly.

- Bake 10-12 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

- Eat these immediately after cooling because they are mmm mmm good!!

I made bigger cookies but feel free to make yours smaller. Make a small first batch so you can see how they bake and all that.

I am so glad I made these! They were one of the easiest cookies I have ever made and they are just absolutely delicious. I love recipes with spices like these because you can just add whatever you want in the quantities you want.

Now I am off to finish my bowl of pasta with homemade pesto made by my dad. Such a good day for food today!

Chocolate Chip Spice Cookies

I've been in the mood to make cookies for some reason. I am so glad I made these because they were amazing! I adapted this recipe from a few others that I found and I think they turned out quite nicely.

Ingredients:

2 c. minus a few tablespoons all purpose flour

2/3 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

6 tbsp. cocoa powder (does anyone know how much of a cup this equals?)

2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. allspice

a pinch of cayenne pepper

2/3 c. maple syrup (well, I used agave)

1/2 c. plus 2 tsp. canola oil

2/3 c. chocolate chips

soy milk (I honestly don't remember how much. Oops.)

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Mix wet ingredients into a bowl and mix dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a larger bowl.

- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until it's all incorporated. Don't mix too much though! After this is done, fold chocolate chips into batter.

- Drop rounded tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet and bake 10-11 minutes. Don't over bake or these will get hard.

- Let cool for a minute and then place on cooling racks.

- Eat!

These were very interesting. They reminded me of Christmas for some reason but I'll eat them anytime of the year because they were so tasty! This would be good with some cloves added as well. Unfortunately I didn't have any on hand so maybe I'll add some next time. I loved the allspice and cayenne. They added a little extra kick to the flavor but didn't overpower the other spices. Also, this is a good recipe because you can change up the spices to suit your own tastes and needs.

I'm already looking forward to making them again soon!