The sweet tooth is on the loose - Soft Ginger Carrot Cookies

Maybe its that time of the month, maybe its because its Monday, maybe it is because it is raining cats and dogs. Whatever it is, I need MORE cookies today. I have an abundance of carrots in my fridge, so I decided to use some of them to whip up a batch of Soft Ginger Carrot Cookies. They are perfect with a cup of tea on a chilly fall day. Mmmmmm....






Soft Ginger Carrot Cookies (makes 30)

1 C whole wheat pasty flour
1 C almond meal
1 t ground ginger
1 t baking powder
Pinch ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
12 T butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
1 egg
1/3 C dark agave nectar
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C shredded carrots (about 3 small carrots)
1 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, almond meal, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, beat butter for two minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add agave, vanilla and egg and beat an additional minute. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in carrots and nuts.















Using a medium-sized cookie scoop (approx 2 T per scoop), scoop out dough onto cookie sheet. With a wet palm, gently flatten each cookie. Bake 14 - 16 minutes or until firm and lightly golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Each cookie has 116 calories, 0.5 g of sugar and 1 g of fiber. Compare these to Land O Lakes Carrot Cake Cookies at 196 calories, 17.7 g of sugar and 0.7 g of fiber.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake Cookies

The last 6 weeks have been insane for me. My Mom was here visiting (hi Mom!), we went to NYC together, I was working lots of hours, David went back to school, Mom went home, we went on vacation, Daniel went back to school, etc, etc, etc.... I am not really sure how I got thru the last month and a half, but I do know that it involved lots of sugar.

Generally speaking, I don't worry too much about the occasional times when I am off of my eating plan. I think that is why I have been able to keep it up for nearly two years. I just get right back on the clean eating wagon and move on. But, when you have been on a 6 week bender like I have been, its a bit hard to kick the need for sugar. That is why I needed cookies this weekend.

The sugar cravings have been getting to me since I started back on the refined carbs and I have been dying for a cookie in the evenings. I decided to stop sabotaging myself by making some not-too-bad-for-me treats. These are a soft, cake like drop cookie which are an adaption of a cookie I found on chefnilson.com. They are soft and chewy and not too sweet. Chris finds them a little too bland (i.e. he wants more sweetener), but the boys and I like them as is. If you want to sweeten these up, just add a bit more agave and you should be fine.

I did a quick nutritional analysis of these cookies and compared them to Oreo Cakesters. A 59 gr serving of my cookies is 3.3 gr of sugar and 2.8 gr of fiber and a similar serving of Oreos delivers a whopping 24 gr of sugar with less than 1 of fiber. While my cookies aren't health food (there is butter and sweetener in them after all) they are a fantastic substitute. Enjoy in good health.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cake Cookies (makes 24 cookies, or about 8 servings)

Cookie
2 egg whites
3/4 C almond meal*
3/4 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C agave nectar
1/4 C cocoa powder
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/4 C butter, softened
Glaze
1/4 C grain sweetened chocolate chips
1 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Like baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Add egg whites to a clean large bowl. Whip until soft peaks form. Gently add the remaining cookie ingredients to the bowl and fold to combine (the dough will be the consistency of thick paste.)

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 7-8 minutes or until set. Do not over bake. Remove to wire rack to cool.

While the cookies are baking, prepare glaze by adding butter to chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl. Microwave for 15 seconds. Stir to combine.

When the cookies are cool to the touch, drizzle with glaze and enjoy.

* The almond meal that I used was the leftovers from making almond milk. I am sure standard almond meal would produce a similar cookie.

The not too bad for you Everything Cookie

I have had the worst sweet tooth lately. I am having a hard time keeping my hands out of the cookie jar, so today I decided to whip up something that I could feel not too bad about eating. I found a recipe on a nice blog called Healthy Endeavors and adapted it to what I had in my cupboard. Here is what I came up with.

Everything Cookie - makes 40

1 C organic rolled oats
1 C spelt or whole grain whole wheat flour
1 C almond meal
1/4 C shredded coconut
1/4 C raisins
1/4 C grain sweetened chocolate chips
1/4 C chopped walnuts
1/2 t salt
1/2 C agave nectar
1/2 C canola oil
1/2 t vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients in small bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Form 1" balls of dough and place them on cookie sheet. Press down with your hand or the bottom of a glass to flatten cookie. Bake approximately 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

A serving of 2 cookies (35 grams) is 169 calories, 2.5 g of sugar and 1.5 g of fiber. Not too bad when you compare these cookies to a similar serving of Chips Ahoy (40 grams) with 190 calories, 13 g of sugar and 1g of fiber.

(And, BTW, even my oldest, who hates coconut, liked these. Go me!)

Frosted Sugar Free Oat and Walnut Cookies

So I am finally back at it in the kitchen and decided that we needed cookies. Yes folks, sometimes you just need a cookie. But in the spirit of taking care of myself I have attempted a sugar free cookie. There is nothing synthetic or fake about these cookies and they are pretty decent. They are an amalgum of two recipes: the cookie are adapted from a recipe in Baking with Agave Nectar and the frosting is a modification of a frosting from a neat-o blog called Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. Enjoy.

Frosted Sugar Free Oat and Walnut Cookies (Makes 28)

Cookies
1/2 C firm tofu
1 T water
1/2 C butter
1 C dark agave nectar
1 t vanilla
1 C sprouted spelt flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
3 C rolled oats
1 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat open to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Add tofu and water to a food processor and pulse until pureed smooth. Set aside.

Add butter, agave and vanilla to bowl and mix with hand mixer until fluffy (about 1 minute). Add tofu and blend well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well to combine.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake until lightly golden brown (about 12 - 15 minutes). Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Eat cookies plain (Chris' preference) or frost with the following tart frosting (note that Chris wants more agave next time, but I like it as is):

Frosting
4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 t dark agave nectar
1/2 t vanilla
pinch salt
1/2 C cold heavy cream

Whisk cream cheese, vanilla, agave and salt until smooth and light. In a seperate bowl, mix heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Stir 1/4 of the stiffened cream ino the cream cheese mixture. Gently fold the remaining cream into cheese mix until combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.