Saturday, March 22, 2008

Cookie Monster!

I'm taking a quick break from the whole birthday thing just to show you two awesome cookies that came out of my oven this week. They're going to come along with me tonight to my dad's Easter / birthday party that he's sharing with Martha (seeing as her birthday is tomorrow!) so that I can pass them off to Andrew and my dad. Aren't they such amazing people to let me indulge in my baking insanity??

So, these first cookies are a bit unique... the brainchild of a half container of sour cream that had been sitting in our fridge for some time, with no future plans for it, and some bits and pieces of nuts and chocolate chips that were taking up space in our already overstocked pantry. It seems that that's usually how it goes in my house... random ingredients, spare time, and a blissfully still-working oven with the bonus of knowing that whatever I churn out will find homes in the bellies of Exxon employees, my dad and Andrew's family (with a few pieces left over for my mom to nosh on!). Anyways, these have some whole wheat flour, almonds, raisins, chocolate and of course sour cream in them, and their appearance kind of looks like they're rocks or something... but they're delicious nonetheless!!

Tangy Chock - Full Cookies
Makes 20
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
1/2 cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a cookie sheet.
  2. Cream together the shortening, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
  3. Beat in sour cream.
  4. Whisk together the flours, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
  5. Beat into the creamed mixture.
  6. Fold in the nuts, chocolate and raisins.
  7. Cover dough, refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
  8. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet.
  9. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, cool completely on sheet.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 111.5
Total Fat: 4.8 g
Cholesterol: 3.8 mg
Sodium: 5.6 mg
Total Carbs: 16.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g
Protein: 1.8 g

These next cookies are my take on one of my favourite ice creams,... Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia! Vegan and part whole-wheat (I have to stick something healthy in there!), they're also loaded with cherries, chocolate, and one of my favourite cookie mix-ins and Andrew's favourite nuts: exotic macadamia nuts. The recipe was adapted from About.com to become vegan and lower in sugar, since I find most cookie recipes out there a bit on the cloying side (and besides, two types of chocolate and sweet cherries? Come on, let's not get overkill here). I also added in an extra exotic flavour layer with both ground (at home) and chopped macadamias. I have a feeling these won't last too long once the hordes descend!

Cherry Garcia Cookies
Makes 36
1/2 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup port wine
pinch salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cups flour
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground macadamia nuts
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup coarsely-chopped macadamia nuts
  1. Place dried cherries in a bowl and cover with port wine. Let sit overnight.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  3. Drain the cherries, reserving 2 tbsp liquid, and pat dry before coarsely chopping.
  4. Whisk together salt, baking soda, flours and ground nuts in a small bowl.
  5. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, margarine, and sugars.
  6. Whisk together cornstarch, reserved port and vanilla. Add to above.
  7. Add flour mixture, half at a time, and mix until combined.
  8. Fold in cherries, both chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts.
  9. Refrigerate cookie dough 30 to 45 minutes.
  10. Bake 12 to 14 minutes.
  11. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing to racks to cool completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 99.2
Total Fat: 5.9 g
Cholesterol: 1.0 mg
Sodium: 17.8 mg
Total Carbs: 11.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.7 g
Protein: 0.9 g

Even after using a whack of the mac nuts in these cookies, I still have a few hanging out in my freezer... what can be next? There are a ton of recipes out there for inspiration, so you'll be seeing something eventually!

4 comments :

  1. Your cherry garcia cookies look amazing! I can't wait to try these for myself. Yum.

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  2. Yum! I love cherry chips...these look yummy!

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  3. I know this is the oldest post ever, but where did you find vegan white chocolate chips?

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  4. lu - I got mine through http://www.veganessentials.com/. Your local health food store may have vegan white chocolate in bar form too - mine has one made with rice milk.

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Thanks for the feedback!