Wednesday, May 7, 2008

My New Favorite Recipe

I'm taking a page from a friend's book (er, blog) and posting a recipe. She is an inspired frugal gourmet and a brilliant blogger. Check her out here.

My new favorite recipe is not only useful but delicious (and healthy - bonus!). So here it is. Oh wait a minute, I need to go fish a hair out of my bra strap (if you didn't get that joke, see here).

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OK, here you go:

Housepoet's Famous Lactation Boosting Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip & Flaxseed Cookies™
Don't be thrown by the name; this cookie is not just for nursing (or pumping) moms. It is hearty, chewy, and super yummy. Not to mention it has lots of fiber, protein, and whole grains. My whole family loves these cookies!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine - I use butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal - I found this at my local Payless supermarket, but if you can't find it there any health food store will have it
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour - I use 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them
1 cup or more chocolate chips
2 tablespoons of brewers yeast (be generous) - The original recipe says no substitutions, but the first time I made this I used Nutritional Yeast that I had on hand, and they were still fabulous

Directions:
1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes.
3. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. I have tried this recipe with full sugar and with half Splenda. Both are good, but next time I'm going to try it with 3/4 of the regular sugars and the rest Splenda. I'm trying to reduce the sugar without compromising the taste too much. With half Splenda, it is slightly noticable, but still totally yummy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mix well.
5. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended.
6. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture. I just whisked it all together as I do not have a sifter - and I added it a little at a time.
7. Stir in oats, then chips. The dough will look like this:


8. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop. I recently acquired a cookie dough scoop at a garage sale (which was my mom's, so it was free!), and upon first use I wondered where this little gadget had been all my life. I LOVE it! I did not have it the first time I made these, and the comparison was unbelievable. The scoop made the process lightening fast. I highly recommend it! Here's my new gizmo and my scooped wonders:



9. Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Serves: 6 dozen cookies I didn't really pay attention the first time, but it seemed like it made a lot. The second time I made it the yield was around 4 dozen. It took two bags to store them:

10. Enjoy like so:



Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a cookie. Or 6.

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