Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Originally from Betty Crocker, then Mom, then Josie

Here's the recipe with my notes on how I make it healthier:

3/4 cup shortening (I don't use shortening, I do 1/4 cup butter and half a cup of applesauce)

1 cup sugar (I only use 1/2 cup)

1 egg beaten

1 1/2 cups flour (I use half wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp salt

1tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup mashed ripe bananas or 1 cup well drained crushed pineapple

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake 375 for 12 min.

The healthier version is still really tasty and the kids gobble them up!

Chocolate Revel Bars

When I typed this title, the auto-fill filled it in. So I must have posted about these yummy cookies before. But I can't find the post, so I'm going to do it again. These are really, really good cookies, and I made them yesterday. The recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, which I do not have in my cupboards, so I made some following Crystal's recipe*. It worked out just fine. I will never buy sweetened condensed milk again.

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

a teaspoon salt

3 cups quick or rolled oats

Mix above ingredients and press 1/2 in a greased and floured 11x17 pan (see Hint, below). Mix and heat up until melted:

1 can sweetened condensed milk*

1 12 oz. package chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons margarine

Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 cup nuts if desired.

Pour over oatmeal mixture. Crumble other 1/2 of oatmeal on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

*Sweetened Condensed Milk in a Blender

In a blender combine for several minutes until very smooth:

1/2 cup hot water

1 cup non-instant powdered milk OR 2 cups instant powdered milk

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter

Hint: When pressing the mixture into the pan, I use a piece of wax paper to keep the dough from sticking to my fingers.

Yogurt cookies

Did you know that yogurt can be used in place of eggs, as well as shortening and oil? In my online search for what to do with all my yogurt, I came across this recipe for Yogurt Cookies. I did not follow it exactly (surprise!). I used 100% whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, and I used 1 cup chocolate chips instead of 2. Here is what I did:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 to 1/2 cup butter, softened (I just used what was on the dish in my cupboard, as one of the commenters said that they had used only the butter (1/4 cup) and left out the shortening (also 1/4 cup), for a total of only 1/4 cup fat, and they turned out fine.)

1/2 cup (homemade) yogurt

(I skipped the vanilla flavoring--I've been getting tired of vanilla lately)

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream sugars and butter, then mix in the yogurt. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir well, followed by the chocolate chips. Put blobs on cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 24.

These cookies spread out a bit and are quite soft when they're still warm. Stay tuned for how they taste when they are cool.

Okay, I've tasted them cool. They're very soft and a bit tangy. Not the texture that I think of with chocolate chip cookies. Not bad, but not great either.

Tomorrow I plan to try a muffin recipe, like maybe this one here.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These are fat-free except for the egg yolk, and if you use two egg whites instead of one whole egg, they would be totally fat-free. I like them. I like them a lot. Of course, the chocolate helps. But I think it also helps that in this case the beans are replacing the shortening, no the flour. Here goes:

1/2 cup cooked mashed beans (I used a can of white beans and mashed up about half of them to get my half cup. I'm sure pinto beans or black beans or any other kind of legumous bean would work just as well!
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup rolled oats
(I just realized these should probably have 1/2 teaspoon of salt or so. But although I missed putting it in, I didn't miss it in the taste. Suit your own.)

In a mixer combine beans, sugar, egg and vanilla. Then put in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and oats. Mix thoroughly. Drop on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Gooey

And here's the finished product. I just now put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes to see if it will set up some more. Honestly, it's not that great. Maybe it's because I'm all beaned-out from the bean quesadilla I had for dinner. But if it wasn't for the chocolate flavor and the nuts to give it some texture--well, let's just say regular old brownies are better, in my opinion. Maybe a little frosting on top would help, once they're set up, that is.

Stay tuned for Brownies #2 when I try making my brownie recipe substituting beans for the shortening instead of the flour. Maybe Friday.

Ellen

Brownies #1

Right now, even as we speak, I have a batch of brownies in the oven. These are grain-free brownies that are supposed to be made from black beans; however, I don't have a can of black beans, and I'm too lazy to open the 25-pound bag of black beans and soak them overnight. So I opened a bottle of home-canned pinto beans and used those instead. I figure, hey, the beans are taking the place of the flour, and flour is white or brown, not black--it's the cocoa powder that makes brownies dark--so why should it matter? Well, I like the color from using pinto beans.

It's the easiest brownie recipe I've ever made. You put everything in a blender and blend it together.

Then pour it into an 8x8 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Oops! I forgot! You're not supposed to blend up the chocolate chips and walnuts, but instead fold those in to the mixture before you pour it into the pan. After I put the batter into the pan, and after I took this picture, I sprinkled them on top and used a knife to stir them in.

While we're waiting for them to cook, I'll share the recipe. It's a gluten free recipe that came from this blog and it goes like this:

Healthy Grain Free Brownies

2 cups black beans (I used pinto), or 1 can beans, rinsed and drained

3 lightly beaten eggs

1/3 cup melted coconut oil or butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey or other sweetner

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8-inch pan. Blend everything but the chocolate chips and walnuts in a blender (I suggest putting the eggs in first so your blender has some liquid to work with. The motor on mine started to smell a little funny, if you know what I mean) and blend until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

Black Bean Brownies

I've been curious about trying black bean brownies, and today I happened across a couple of recipes for them.
http://coffeebeankisses.blogspot.com/2011/01/black-bean-brownies.html
http://kingdomfirstmom.com/2011/03/healthy-black-bean-brownies.html
Both of these people are interested in cooking without gluten, so apparently the beans take the place of the flour. I am not concerned about gluten-free cooking, but rather low-fat cooking. I'm wondering if I can make regular brownies and substitute the black beans for the shortening? When I bought my bags of black beans and white beans at the dry-pack cannery a couple of weeks ago, I overheard the lady telling someone that you can substitute cooked white beans for shortening, cup-for-cup. I've been curious to try it ever since.
I hope to experiment with this concept this week, and as I do I'll share what I find.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm going to post the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies from Lean and Free 2000 Plus. But before I do I want to mention that I tried that whole grain compote from the recipe in the Deseret News, using the cracked grain cereal that I bought, and I really liked it. The cracked grain cereal already has flax seed in it, and I'm not interested in buying flax seed and making it a part of my diet, so I left that out. I think I left out the orange juice, too. But I did do the cut up apple and used cut up strawberries for the berries, and raisins for the dried fruit, and I poured milk over it and ate it like regular hot cereal. I like it a lot.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 egg whites (I used two whole eggs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix applesauce, butter, sugar, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. (I then chilled the dough overnight.) Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet (a little cooking spray is helpful). Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

These make a soft, cake-like cookie that is easy to eat (a lot of!). I'm going to make them again and try it with an added cup of oatmeal. Or, rather, rolled grains. Hey, why not?