Joy [Almond Shortbread] Cookies

This post has been moved to my new blog on my health coaching website. You can find the recipe on Conveying Awareness.

Choose, eat, and live well! =)

Persimmon ... Cookies!!

In one of my CSA boxes from Abundant Harvest Organics, I received persimmons. Hmmm. What to do with persimmons? With every foreign item in my CSA box, I will search the internet for recipes. I've eaten dehydrated persimmons before but I didn't do the drying. So, here's to what I found... and the best part of it all was that my son and I prepared this recipe in the kitchen of Cooking and Kids'!


Recipe adapted from All Recipes, Persimmon Cookies II. These are our changes:

Ingredients:

4-5 Hachiya persimmons pureed (see note 1 below)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 tsp real vanilla
2 cups 100% whole wheat flour 
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: sliced almonds, crushed walnuts, ground cloves (see note 2 below)

Note 1: The best way to prepare persimmons is freezing them then letting them thaw. You can also let them (over) ripen on the counter. This may take a few days so if you're in a hurry, freeze them! Use a pairing knife and peel the skin, throw the persimmons in the blender and puree. Bring the puree to room temperature, if cold, before using them in this recipe. 

Preparation:
1. After prepping the persimmons, mix the sugar, egg, and vanilla. 

2. Add in the pureed persimmons. 

3. In a separate bowl, prepare the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir until combined.

4. Add the dry mixture a half cup in at a time. 

5. Fold in the optional ingredients.

6. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop the batter using an ice cream scoop about an inch apart. The cookie batter will not spread but they'll be big so you may be able to fit 9 cookies to a sheet. 

7. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

Yields 2 dozen. 


Note 2: We omitted the ground cloves and the walnuts from the original recipe. The cookies were absolutely delicious! We thought afterwards since we added a couple extra persimmons than what the recipe called for that we could have decreased the sugar content even lower (original recipe called for 1 cup)! Persimmons are not overly sweet on their own but with the hints of cinnamon and nutmeg they really did shine in this recipe.

Note 3: I made these again subbing the butter for applesauce to try a dairy free version of the cookies. Applesauce is a 1:1 for oil and butter. It cuts down on calories (but who's counting? -- when you're eating healthy fats in balance with each other, focus instead on quality not quantity (or calories in this case)). I would not recommend subbing applesauce. It makes the batter way too runny to set as cookies. I should have tried the batter as muffins but I am not sure they would have held out. 

Maybe you're a baker and have a recommendation on how I could have changed the recipe when it came out too runny when using applesauce instead of butter. Feel free to leave a suggestion below. 

What is your favorite recipe using this type of persimmon? 

Buon Appetito! 

Choose, eat, and live well! =)

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Awesome Granola-Chip Cookies

Awesome Granola-Chip Cookies

The original recipe is Awesome Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies by Dr. Bill Sears, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood, 2006, page 304.

I modified his recipe based on what was in my pantry at the time. 

½ cup raw honey

½ cup coconut oil (if you're allergic to coconut oil, try grapeseed or EVOO)

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 egg

1 ½ cups of granola 

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup of chocolate chips

Heat oven to 365 degrees. Combine all wet ingredients then mix dry ingredients separately. Add dry to wet. The batter will be slightly loose. Drop the batter by the tablespoon on a cookie sheet and bake until light brown. The batter will spread while baking. Done in 7-9 minutes. Yields: 30 cookies. 

Notes: Use parchment paper that's not bleached. This is for easy clean up. 

The batter is already brown so you’ll have to watch for a smooth brown appearance.  You may need to test one batch so bake only a couple until you get the feel for what they’ll look like when they’re done.

Choose, eat, and live well! =)