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Now that the holiday season is upon us and the race season has passed, go ahead and indulge a little. IMPACT Magazine shares some healthy cookie recipes—well, not too healthy—from our friends and contributors. It’s the holidays, after all.
Mint Chocolate Meringues
Kelly Anne Erdman (courtesy Blue Flame Kitchen, 1986)
3 large egg whites, room temperature
125 ml berry sugar
200 ml coarsely chopped chocolate-covered mint patties
1. Line cookie sheets with very lightly buttered foil. Beat egg whites until foamy.
2. Gradually beat in the sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form. Fold in the chopped chocolate pieces.
3. Drop onto prepared sheets in ten-millilitre volumes (two teaspoons) about one inch apart.
4. Bake at 275 degrees F. for forty-five minutes until firm on the outside and chewy inside.
5. Cool on wire racks; store two weeks in a cool place; do not freeze.
Yields two dozen
“This recipe is quick, easy, and everyone loves chocolate, don’t they? This recipe and I go back twenty-odd years.”
Boiled Carob Cookies
Judith Cobb, Cobblestone Health, Calgary
½ cup carob powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup butter
½ cup milk (you can use any kind of milk)
1 ½ cups Demerara sugar
3 cups oatmeal
1 cups coconut
1. Boil together for five minutes the carob powder, salt, vanilla, butter, milk, and sugar
2. Add the oatmeal and coconut to the first mixture and combine well.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper to cool and set.
Yields three dozen
“This is a somewhat healthier reworking of a recipe that my Grandma and I used to make when I was little. She didn’t use carob or Demerara sugar, but we sure had fun making these and eating them!”
Soft Chewy Orange-Molasses Cookies with Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting
Margaret Nemath, Primal Grounds, Calgary
2 tbsps freshly grated orange peel (keep orange for juice later in recipe)
(trick: Roll orange by hand on counter before grating, to plump up the juice content)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsps toasted wheat germ (adds protein and nuttiness) (if you don’t have wheat germ, substitute with two tbsp whole wheat flour)
2 tsp ground ginger or three tbsp. chopped chrystallized ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground allspice
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup unsalted butter or equivalent Becel, softened
1 cup brown sugar, hard packed or half cup of Splenda Brown Sugar, hard packed
1 egg
2 tbsps fresh squeezed orange juice
¼ cup fancy molasses or dark corn syrup
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Get the orange peel ready; squeeze out two tbsp or so of orange juice for recipe.
2. In separate bowl, sift the flour (whole wheat tends to be heavier/coarser product; sifting helps lift it) and add the ginger, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, salt, orange peel to the flour mixture, blending, and set aside.
3. In large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, and then stir in the orange juice and molasses. Gradually fold in the sifted flour ingredients, stirring after each addition until you can shape them into little balls. Shape dough into walnut-sized balls and roll them in approximately two tablespoons of sugar or sugar in the raw, coating the outside of the balls.
4. Place the cookies two inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
5. Bake for eight to ten minutes (careful not to bake any longer) in the preheated oven. Allow to cool for five minutes before removing cookies to a wire rack to completely cool. They will appear underbaked, just slightly brown around the edges, and undercooked in appearance in the centre! This will give it the chewiness you desire.
6. When cooled, pipe frosting in a zigzag pattern, or dip half the cookie in the frosting. You can make the frosting thinner for piping or stiffer for dipping.
Frosting:
2 tbsps cream cheese
1 Tbsp orange juice or any type of citrus juice
¼ tsp vanilla
7. Beat above ingredients until soft. Then add enough icing sugar until the mixture is stiff, approximately
one-half cup or so. If too stiff, add a couple drops of juice; if too sloppy add more icing sugar.
Yields two dozen
“This cookie recipe is a blend between my favourite chewy gingersnap cookie recipe and my citrus pumpkin gingerbread cake that I serve at Primal Grounds. I am always changing and adding to the ingredients every time I make it.
“Why I love it: It is chewy and savoury and gingery (I have a thing for ginger), and the citrus cream cheese frosting gives it a “special occasion” feel.
“Reminds me of my German-Hungarian upbringing when all my aunties came over with all their homemade German cookies, Pfeffernusse cookies being my favourite (spicy German gingerbread cookies) and my sister and I decorating the gingerbread houses or making gingerbread men, gingerly moving along and trying to outdo each other! You can see gingerbread was the ‘thing’ at our Christmas table. Still is.”
Endurance 8 Healthy Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Wendy Carvalho-Ashby and Kevin Ashby, Endurance 8, Calgary (adapted from Harvest Pumpkin-Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, www.verybestbaking.com. “While we enjoy the taste of the original cookie, we wanted to make a cookie that we could enjoy without any extra added sugars or extra fats. So we modified the cookie using apple sauce to replace butter, and increasing the amount of raisins as a source of natural sugars. We also decided to use whole wheat flour instead of white flour to increase the fibre content of the cookie.”)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apple sauce (we like to use apple-cinnamon cups by president’s choice)
1 cup 100 per cent pure pumpkin
3 tablespoons Break Free Omega-3 liquid eggs (equivalent to one large egg)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups seedless raisins
Optional 3/4 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets (we use original Pam spray).
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon in medium bowl. In a separate bowl blend apple sauce, pumpkin, liquid eggs, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture to wet mixture; mix well. Stir in raisins to cookie dough. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake for twelve to fourteen minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centres. Cool on baking sheets for fifteen minutes.
Yields two dozen
“We are real fans of pumpkin pie, but we know that regularly eating pie is not great for the waistline. We really love this cookie because it is a bit heavier, almost like a biscuit. For busy people always on the go, this is a great little snack with excellent lower glycemic carbohydrates that fills the sweet cravings when they arise, without slowing you down.
“The idea to blend pumpkin with oatmeal came by pure accident. We were in Toronto this year getting ready to compete at the World Championships for figure and bodybuilding and Kevin had a bowl of oatmeal, and I (Wendy) had a bowl of sweet potatoes and pumpkin, for some reason we decided to mix the two and liked the taste. When we came back to Calgary we looked up some recipes for a pumpkin oatmeal cookie and then started adapting it to our lifestyle and nutrition plan.”
Charlie and Ella’s Favorite Carrot Cookies
Diana Steele (adapted from Simply Great Food, Dietitians of Canada)
1 cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup quick rolled oats
½ cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
1 egg
¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ cup non-hydrogenated margarine or soft butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup grated carrots
1. In a medium bowl, combine flour oats, flaxseed, cinnamon and baking soda.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, eat egg, brown sugar, margarine and vanilla until smooth. Fold in flour mixture. Stir in carrots.
3. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls, about two inches apart, onto prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for ten to fifteen minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheet on a wire rack for five minutes.
Yields one dozen
Chewy Christmas Wreaths
Jari Love, Ripped!
1/2 cup butter
4 Tbsps rum extract
2 small bags Jet Puff large marshmallows
6 cups Kellogg’s Bran Flakes
1 cup Bio-X whey protein power (vanilla or creamsicle flavour)
Maraschino cherries
1. Melt half-cup of butter over medium heat (for gooier try three-quarter cup of butter).
2. Add in four tablespoons of rum extract.
3. Add two bags of Jet Puff marshmallows.
4. Stir over heat until marshmallows and butter are melted.
5. Then you stir in six to seven cups of Kellogg’s bran flakes.
6. Add in one cup of whey protein powder, and stir mixture completely.
7. Form dough into a circle in the shape of a Christmas wreath on a cookie sheet and design them with a hole in the middle. Then put a maraschino cherry half on top for decoration.
8. Bake for approximately ten to fifteen minutes to make … delicious!
Yields one dozen
“What makes this a family favourite is the fact that it taste like ‘more.’ As you can see, it is very high in fibre, which is essential in our diet. The protein powder is an added benefit. Enjoy!”
Tahini Candy
Jenelle Kitto, BodyPrint, Calgary (adapted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition, Elson M. Haas, and The Book of Whole Meals, Annemarie Colbin).
¼ cup almonds
½ cup tahini
4 Tbsps maple syrup
¼ tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp carob flour
¼ cup grated coconut
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Spread almonds on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for five minutes.
3. In a small mixing bowl, blend the tahini, maple syrup, and almond extract, beating vigorously for three minutes until a stiff ball forms and the oil begins to separate.
4. Stir in the carob flour.
5. As the mixture stiffens, press the dough against the sides of the bowl with a spoon to expel the oil, then pour off.
6. Allow the dough to sit for one to two minutes.
7. Remove the almonds from the oven.
8. Press and drain the dough again and place in a napkin or paper towel; squeeze to absorb excess oil.
9. Chop the almonds and add to the mixture.
10. Place the mixture on a piece of wax paper (so it won’t stick to the copping board) and roll into a cylinder shape.
11. Slice the roll into bite-sized pieces and cover with grated coconut
Yields twelve to eighteen slices
“I first tried this one in 2004. I had just graduated from CSNN and was on maternity leave with my son Kashus. At that time I started really experimenting in the kitchen with whole-food cooking. I joined a mom’s group. We would meet once per week, for five weeks. Volunteers would watch the kids for a couple hours upstairs, while we discussed everything from health, hobbies, and fire safety and doing either Pilates or scrapbook together. On the last week, we had a cooking class and enjoy lunch together. I led one of the classes and this was the dessert I made. The moms raved about how yummy they were.”
Organic Oatmeal and Almond Cookies
Genieve Burley-Howes
1/3 cup butter, softened
6 Tbsps egg whites
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups fair-trade cane sugar
1 tsp salt (I used Maldon sea salt)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups spelt flour
2 cups large flake oats
1 cup slivered almonds
(All ingredients are organic except for the baking soda, but conventional products may also be used.)
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together butter, egg whites, peanut butter, vanilla extract, cane sugar until fluffy.
3. Combine dry ingredients salt, baking soda, spelt flour.
4. Add oats and almonds. (It may be easiest to diligently wash hands and then mix with hands.)
5. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet leaving room for them to expand.
6. Bake for around twelve minutes.
Yields two dozen
“I love these cookies because they are made with wholesome ingredients. They include very nutritious fats, coarse carbohydrates good for fibre and colon health, spelt flour (no gluten), and an ecologically sound, fair-trade, healthier sugar. And they are delicious to boot. Enjoy.”
Coconut Almond Macaroons
Sue Spicer
4 egg whites
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 ½ cups sugar
2 Tbsps corn starch
¾ cup coarsely chopped, toasted almonds
¾ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup melted chocolate
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Always pre-heat oven for baking!
2. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form, then beat in cornstarch.
3. Stir in almonds, coconut, vanilla, and lemon juice.
4. Spoon by heaping teaspoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for twenty minutes or until golden brown on top.
6. Cool for at least five minutes before removing, cool completely before dipping chocolate.
7. Melt chocolate in a low microwave (watch carefully) or melt over a double boiler.
8. Dip half cookie in chocolate, or bottom only, or drizzle over tops or do a combination of all.
9. Place on a cooling rack until chocolate is hard.
10. Store in layers between waxed paper for up to two weeks, do not refrigerate.
Makes twenty-four macaroons.
“My daughter is gluten intolerant, so these will definitely be on the holiday cookie tray! Easy to make, they look very special when dipped in chocolate. We like Toblerone, but any good-quality milk or dark chocolate will do. Parchment paper is a must to prevent sticking to the cookie tray.”
Sugar Plums
Sue Spicer
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup finely chopped dried apples
1 cup finely chopped dates
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
2 tsps orange zest
1/3 cup liquid honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1. In a large bowl combine apricots, apples, dates, walnuts, orange zest, and honey.
2. Mix well with a wooden spoon or by hand (dip hands in cool water first to prevent sticking).
3. Roll into one-inch balls with lightly moistened hands—do not get sugarplums wet—they should be sticky on the outside.
4. In a smaller bowl combine cinnamon with sugar.
5. Roll sugarplums in cinnamon sugar to coat.
6. Place on a cooling rack until sugar coating has dried, about 1 hour.
7. Store in layers between wax paper in a covered container for up to two weeks.
Makes eighteen sugarplums.
“A great addition to the cheese tray as well as the holiday cookie platter! Be sure the dried fruit is moist, not too dry. Best if chopped by hand, the food processor makes the mixture too dark and sticky.”
Cosmic Cookies
Planet Organic
2 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups spelt flour
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsps pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon, ground
2 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups raisins
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup soy milk
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, everything from oats to raisins. In a separate large bowl, combine wet ingredients, everything from water to soy milk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix slow at a low speed (or by hand) until just combined. Do not overmix.
3. Portion cookie dough using a one-third cup measure and place onto lined baking tray. Gently flatten cookies before baking. Bake for twenty-four minutes or until lightly browned.
Yields twenty-four cookies.
“We debated long and hard on whether or not to reveal this secret recipe. By far our most popular cookie, in one week the Edmonton deli sells more than 1,500!”
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Tue 09 Dec 2008 20:04:35 PST
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