Oatmeal, crispy

In case it isn't obvious, I <3 oatmeal. It's good for you, it makes great cookies, it is a perfect breakfast... it's just all around fabulous.

I found a really simple recipe to maximize one of my favorite things to make delicious, crispy cookies in greater than or equal to 20 minutes.

Using Martha's Oatmeal Crisps recipe as a rough guide, I mixed together 4 tablespoons of vegetable margarine, 3 tablespoons of agave syrup and 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour. Once these were suitably stirred (made easier by the fact that there is no air conditioner in the kitchen and it was approximately 300 degrees in there - I'm surprised they didn't begin to bake on their own) in 2/3 of a cup of steel-cut oats. I placed these on parchment on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for around 15-20 minutes.

These are delicious. The only sad part was that there weren't that many of them! I'm going to have to triple this next time... that's how much I love oatmeal!

Nutty

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite surgeons and a fellow pre-diabetic ordered me some peanut flour. Peanut flour is a GREAT flour substitute - it is gluten free, high in protein and low calories. Today, I decided to put it to the test.

I wanted to start slow, it case something went horribly wrong. I picked Martha's Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made some fairly major substitutions to make it good for my blood sugar and my body... and it worked out! I liked the peanut and chocolate taste together and they were really light and cakey. My first experience with peanut flour was a success.

Recipe and instructions (from Martha Stewart and all substitutions by ME!):

These cookies are crispy at the edges, chewy in the center, and loaded with two kinds of chocolate. Feel free to add 2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans to the dough.

• Prep Time 10 minutes
• Total Time 45 minutes, plus chilling
• Yield Makes 24

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) - I substituted 1.5 cups peanut flour and 1.5 cups whole wheat flour - as both of these are dryer than white flour, I figured this would be enough
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder - I substituted with baking soda and creme of tarter
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature - I substituted one cup of stick vegetable margarine and one cup of olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar - I substituted 1 cup agave syrup, as this is sweeter than sugar this was enough
• 1 cup granulated sugar - I substituted 1 cup of Splenda
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped - I omitted this, because I didn't want anything too chocolatey this time around

Directions

1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
   
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture just until incorporated; fold in chocolate chips and chunks.
   
3. Using a 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop or a large spoon, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (you should have 24) and refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Arrange 6 unbaked cookies, 3 inches apart, on each of two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are light golden brown, 17 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Bake remaining dough using new parchment.
   

Ahhhhh-gave

In my quest to at least limit, if not totally eliminate sugar and carbs from my diet, I finally found agave. For a while there, I dabbled with Splenda. Here and there I experimented with Equal. For a two day period when my office only stocked Sweet'n'Low, I went there. These liaisons were short, fleeting, and unsatisfactory.

And then, today, I found agave syrup, the perfect sugar substitute. Let me just say... it. is. fabulous! Agave nectar is commercially harvested from a variety of agave plants in Mexico. The particular agave syrup I found is from the blue agave plant, if anyone cares about specifics. It tastes like heaven. Except better.

For my first baking attempt with agave, I tried Martha's Oatmeal Cookies. I knew that I wouldn't get it perfectly right the first time, particularly because agave is a liquid sweetener, and is therefore not a perfect baking substitute for sugar. In addition, I was planning to bake vegan, which adds a whole additional element of difficulty. Both of these elements combine to produce flat, cake-y cookies that don't stay together as well as regular cookies.

I started with two cups of agave, subsituting for both the brown and granulated sugar. Because agave has such a unique, sweet flavor, I figured this would be appropriate. Instead of butter, I mixed in two sticks of vegetable margarine with the agave. In place of the eggs, I stirred in a cup of Sprite Zero.

For the dry ingredients, I mixed together three cups of rolled oats, one cups and two tablespoons whole wheat flower (instead of white flower), baking soda, baking soda + creme of tartar (to replace the baking powder) and 1/2 cup flax meal (to replace the wheat germ). I skipped the toffee bits/raisins all together because I am really not supposed to have either of these.

While, as expected, the resulting cookies were a bit flat and crumbly, they were absolutely delicious. I really love the agave alternative. It definitely doesn't taste as fake as Splenda; plus, while more expensive, it's all natural and not full of chemicals with unknown biological actions.



Recipe (from Martha Stewart, http://www.marthastewart.com/282206/oatmeal-cookies?&backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/oatmeal-cookie-recipes#slide_4):

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 12 ounces good-quality chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups golden raisins, or 10 ounces toffee pieces

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Starting with the mixer on low speed and increasing until it is on medium, beat until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, then scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and mix to combine.
   
2. Combine the rolled oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and wheat germ in a large bowl, and stir to combine. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, then mix on low speed just to combine, 10 to 15 seconds. Remove the bowl from mixer stand, and stir in your choice of chocolate chunks, golden raisins, or toffee pieces.
   
3. Line the baking pans with parchment paper. Use a large (2 1/2 ounce) or small (1 1/4 ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of dough. Place the balls of dough about 4 inches apart on baking pans. Bake until golden and just set, about 18 minutes for large cookies and 14 minutes for small cookies. Remove from oven; let cool on pan 4 to 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.