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.
   

Completely unhealthy but amazingly delicious chocolate chip cookies

Ok, so I splurged a bit today. And made some REAL chocolate chip cookies. Well - I did use a ratio of 1:1 white and wheat flour and employ agave instead of brown sugar, but still... these are deadly.

And delicious.

Recipe (thanks Martha "I shouldn't eat this but I will" Stewart):

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
   
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
   
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
   

 http://www.marthastewart.com/281905/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies?czone=food/cookies-cnt/everyday-favorites

Oatmeal "cookies"

I have been totally craving something sweet. As those who know me are definitely aware, I have a major sweet tooth and pretty much adore dessert. This has been difficult given that I can't really have sugar or carbs anymore. I am literally at the point where I am stuck chewing sugarless gum, chugging Diet Coke, or brushing my teeth if I want a sweet taste. This is unacceptable.

So today I took on a challenge: attempt to bake healthy cookies that are pre-diabetic approved. As it turns out this is easier said than done.

I decided on Oatmeal Cookies as the perfect antidote to my case of the sugar blahs. Of course, I had to make some intense substitutions to Martha's recipe.

Based on some extensive internet research and some logic, I made the following substitutions to the recipe:

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour - substituted whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour - substituted whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ - substituted whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder - substituted creme of tartar and baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened - substituted margarine
• 1 cup granulated sugar - substituted Splenda
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar - substituted sugarless maple syrup
• 2 large eggs - substituted 1 cup of Sprite Zero
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups raisins - omitted, I can't have dry fruit anymore

Once I mixed all the ingredients and baked the cookies, I was ready for a taste test. The resulting oatmeal balls did not taste like cookies, but were definitely part way there. They were a bit doughy, no doubt due to the use of wheat flour instead of white flour, which is much more water absorbent. In addition, they weren't nearly as sweet as most cookies, perhaps because I substited sugarless maple syrup for brown sugar. 

This is definitely a work in progress, but I won't give up! Next time, I'll have to figure out how to make the cookies less doughy and a bit sweeter. Until then, I'll definitely be enjoying these "cookies".

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together oats, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture; mix until just combined. Mix in raisins.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.
3. Bake until golden and just set, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - Martha Stewart Recipes

When life gives you lemons...

...make lemon cookies!

There are moments in life where chocolate just wont do. Although these moments are definitely few and far between, it is in these cases where a nice lemon dessert just completely hits the spot. Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood for something super sweet and a nice tart taste is just what the doctor ordered.

I was having one of my rare lemon cravings today and as always, Martha came through in a big way... in the form of lemon glazed cookies. They looked just too good to pass up.

Of course, I still don't have a mixer, which makes baking slightly trickier. That will have to be my next purchase, because it really isn't much fun hand-mixing cold butter with other ingredients. That, and a zester. Instead of a simple zesting process, I ended up having to peel lemons with a knife and cut up the peels into small pieces, which, I hoped, roughly resembled zest.

Aside from this slight stumbling-block, the remainder of the recipe was simple enough. I mixed the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest) in one bowl, and stirred the wet-ish ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and lemon juice) in another. I then combined the two together and baked the mixture.

The glaze was nothing more than lemon zest, lemon juice, and powdered sugar mixed together. Simple enough... minus the fact that I had to zest the lemon the hard way.

The resulting cookies totally hit the spot. I have plenty of leftovers too, which I plan to keep around for a rainy day... or another lemon craving!