Guest Author - Katherine Tomlinson
It’s back to school time and that means packing school lunches with nutritious, delicious food that won’t get traded away. If you want to add a sweet treat that won’t spike blood sugar and leave your child feeling tired in the middle of the day, these fiber- and protein-rich cookies (with their double-dose of grains and nuts) are just the thing. They taste so good you can be sure that no one will ditch them in favor of pre-made snack cakes filled with chemicals and trans-fats.
Super-Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1 cup bran flour
½ cup flour
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ¾ cup rolled oats (not the instant kind)
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup walnut or pecan pieces
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Dash salt
Note: if you can’t find bran flour, you can substitute 2 cups of high-fiber cereal like all-bran or oat bran that you then crush finely to make 1 cup.
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.
Combine the flours (or flour and cereal) with the baking soda, salt and cinnamon
.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed sugar/butter/egg mixture.
Stir in the oats, the nuts and the chocolate chips and mix until blended. (Dough will be stiff.)
Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving room for the cookies to spread.
Bake for 5-6 minutes. Let them sit for a minute, then cool on a rack.
These cookies keep well and can be frozen.
Super-Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is irresistible and the protein-power of the nut butter gives these cookies extra nutritional punch.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1 stick unsalted butter
¾ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup flour
1 large egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: you don’t need to add salt to this recipe unless you’re using unsalted peanut butter. Even then, just throw in a dash.
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well.
Add the peanut butter and stir until combined. Add the flour and baking powder (and salt) to the wet mixture and stir until just blended. (Don’t over-mix.)
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop small spoons of dough onto the ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes. (Don’t let them get too dark.)
Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a minute before removing to racks to cool.
