We all have flaws that, in a funny way, make us human. In the long alphabetical list that are my own, sandwiched between “Sweats too much” and “Swollen lymph nodes” is “Sweet tooth”. Before 2007 I never paid much mind to nutrition. I generally ate well but I would go on extended sugar binges. I like my sugar best wrapped in dough, like in a fine pastry, a doughnut, or my favorite, a cookie. Sometimes I would go through an entire pack of store bought cookies in one night. Of course, thanks to an otherworldly metabolism, I never gained a pound. But a stable weight is not equitable to health and I was doing myself a disservice by eating all those empty calories.
It’s taken a lot of time and refinement, but my love of sweets and health can finally coexist in one delicious super cookie. The recipe is actually quite normal; it’s not much different than what you would find on the back of a box of baking soda or a bag of chocolate chips. I just swapped out some of the less healthy ingredients that contained an excess of calories or saturated fats with things that are more nutrient dense.
Ingredients
2 and ¼ cups Whole Wheat Flour
1tbs Baking soda
1tbs Salt
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Applesauce
1tsp Vanilla
1 cup chopped Walnuts
1 cup dried cranberries
These cookies are made just like the standard batch. Combine your flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. In a large bowl, mix your peanut butter and sugar together. Mix in the applesauce and vanilla, and then add the flour mixture a little bit at a time. Once your cookie dough is finished, stir in your walnuts and cranberries. The batter is fine to eat raw if you want, otherwise, throw about a tablespoon each onto a pan and bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-12 minutes. It’s ok if they’re doughy but make sure they don’t burn.
Now look at what you’ve made here, walnuts and cranberries instead of chocolate chips, applesauce instead of eggs, peanut butter instead of butter, and whole wheat flour in the place of white. Instead of a bunch of empty calories you get about 170 calories per cookie, about 12.5 grams fat and only 1.5 grams saturated fat, 6 grams of protein, Vitamin C, your B vitamins-including Niacin, Riboflavin, Thiamin and B6-Vitamin E, and Vitamin D if you drink whole milk with your cookies. There’s even a good amount of Iron in there. Since I don’t have the willpower to give up refined sugar; I think this is the best way to take it in. Enjoy!
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