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As I was looking for a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, I was totally disheartened... it's impossible to find a healthy recipe that looks, feels and tastes exactly like the original oatmeal raisin cookie--all of the "healthier" recipes I found used lots of sugar, too much coconut oil or earth balance, or they were super thin, dry or crumbly. As a gateway to finding the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, I decided to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. I had never made cookies from scratch before because of their typical ingredients: butter, sugar, and AP flour... suuuper healthy... not. Anyways, my first crack at my own cookie recipe went surprisingly well! The flavor was great, just the texture was off.
1st Version:
This cookie tasted really good! It was nice, sweet and great out of the oven. It was a little cakey so I needed to adjust the moisture level and the baking powder and soda levels. Unfortunately, the cookies turned tough and saltier the next day (which I blame on the peanut butter I used, made with roasted peanuts, sugar, salt and oil), so next time I will use my preferred, peanuts-only PB. The oats weren't noticeable in the cookie either, so I need to decrease the flour and increase the oats!
^^ a biiig whoopie pie!
Onto the next batch!
2nd Version:
I googled the reasons why cookies become cakey but was yet again discouraged... most of the solutions to cakey cookies involve adding more sugar or more butter, which I refuse to do. One reason why cookies become cakey is because there is too much liquid. In my first batch I used applesauce in place of oil/butter and an egg replacer with 3 tbs of water. Water creates steam in the oven, therefore, letting the cookies rise and become airy. So I cooked the applesauce with some oats over a stove until the water evaporated and I was left with a thick, chunky mixture. I put 1 tbs of egg replacer into the batch and omitted the water to prevent the steaming. I also decreased the baking powder from 1/2 tsp to 1/4 tsp and salt from 1 tsp to 1/2 tsp to reduce cakiness and reduce saltiness. When I was mixing the ingredients together, it was a very thick batter, most of which was crumbly, so I added 1/4 cup of evaporated milk to help (I totally forgot about what too much liquid does to cookies!). I tried forming little patties but the batter was too moist, so I attempted at making blondies.
Unfortunately, the cookies were a little cakey but the blondies were amazing! They were like muffinish pizzookies, but that is a recipe for a whole separate post (still needs some texture work). Here is a pic for waiting-torture purposes:
3rd Version:
Yummy! These were exactly what I wanted: sweet, soft and chewy cookies. They were extremely peanutty, and I could feel good about eating it because of its superb ingredients ;)
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: [high fiber, high protein]
(makes ~15 cookies, but really just depends on how much cookie dough you eat...)
Dry:
90g (3/4 cup) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
48g (1/2 cup) Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
48g (1/4 cup) Sucanat
40g (1/2 cup) Whey Protein Concentrate
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
Wet I:
123g (1/2 cup) Unsweetened Applesauce
48g (1/2 cup) Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
256g (1 cup) Natural Peanut Butter (no salt/sugar/oil added)
126g (6 tbs) Honey
7g (1 tbs) Egg Replacer (with no water!)
2 tbs Evaporated Fat Free Milk
2 tsp Hazelnut Extract
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Put the Wet I ingredients into a pot and "render" over medium heat, stirring occasionally (should be ready in ~15 minutes). It should turn from this to this:
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the Wet II ingredients. Stir in the cooked applesauce/oat mixture. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir together.
5. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment and roll the dough into 1" balls. Flatten with your fingers and smooth the cracks that may form the side. Bake for ~10 minutes, or until the the edges are golden brown.
2. Put the Wet I ingredients into a pot and "render" over medium heat, stirring occasionally (should be ready in ~15 minutes). It should turn from this to this:
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the Wet II ingredients. Stir in the cooked applesauce/oat mixture. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir together.
5. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment and roll the dough into 1" balls. Flatten with your fingers and smooth the cracks that may form the side. Bake for ~10 minutes, or until the the edges are golden brown.
Depending on your taste, you can add any solid ingredients you want to the batter. Here are my favorites:
As a treat, add chocolate chips.
As a breakfast, add crumbled walnuts or chopped peanuts.
As an energy snack, add some raisins or dried cranberries.
Peanut Butter Frosting:
(makes 1/3 cup)
32g (2 tbs) Natural Peanut Butter
42g (2 tbs) Honey
1-2 tbs Dried Nonfat Milk
Directions:
1. In a small bowl add peanut butter and honey and stir
2. Add 1 tablespoon of dried milk and stir again. Add 1 more tablespoon if you want a thick frosting (if you add too much powder, just add more honey until you reach the texture you want)
^^ a healthy cookie in each hand, that is ;)
Did I mention that the dough for these cookies is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!?! And, it's totally safe to eat since it's eggless! It's similar to those Peanut Butter Protein Balls, but taken to a whole new level. And, it doesn't taste healthy at all (take it from me. I used to eat the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie dough right out of the tub... the 36 oz tub... from Costco. Yeah, that cookie dough.) I won't bore you by talking about how unhealthy and dangerous that cookie dough is, but trust me, it is. Make this dough and bake it, don't bake it, your decision!
I love cookies. Oh, and I love cookie dough too. :)
These look so... good! I don't use stevia however, so what could I replace it with?
ReplyDeletePBLover,
ReplyDeleteThank you! You could try adding 2 tbs of brown rice syrup along with 1/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar). However, I'm not a cookie connoisseur (yet) so hopefully this works!