South Riding Wellness Connection

Recipe of the Month!

Cookies without the Guilt: Oatmeal, Walnut and Raisin Cookies

I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, so I am always on the hunt for a low fat cookie that tastes good and doesn’t taste like cardboard. Well I finally found one. I first saw it on Oprah when Alicia Silverstone was raving about her Vegan cookbook, “The Kind Diet”, and she swore you don’t have to lose taste for nutrition. I didn’t believe it, so I tried the recipe and not only did I love it, but my husband and son loved it, too - it passed all the tests. I hope you enjoy them. You may need to make a quick trip to Whole Foods for some of the ingredients, but it will be worth it in the end. Chewy yummy cookies without the guilt!!

Servings: Makes 10 to 12 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)

1/3 cup maple sugar (I couldn’t find this, so I used pure cane sugar)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

1/3 cup maple syrup (Organic is best)

1/2 cup safflower oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. molasses

1/4 cup chopped dried raisins or other dried fruit (I doubled it to 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

(I used a stone baking sheet and I didn’t line it with parchment paper)

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the syrup, oil, vanilla extract, and molasses. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Fold in the dried raisins and nuts.

Using your hands, roll tablespoon-size scoops of dough into balls. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly on the balls to flatten the tops. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.

For variety, replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour (I used this one!), barley flour, spelt flour, or a gluten-free baking mix (choose one that does not include baking soda and baking powder). You can also substitute chocolate chips for the dried fruit and any kind of nuts for the walnuts.