Our Favorite Cookies

These are so healthy and hearty that they are hardly cookies. You can eat them any time and not feel guilty.

I use butter. I almost never use shortening, but it is an adequate substitute if you don't want to use butter for some reason that I can't come up with. I have never used margarine and I avoid the stuff like the plague that it is, so I can't really speak to whether or not that would work.

I usually use the white and brown sugars, but one day I was looking in my cabinet and found this:I bought it for a recipe I was going to make at Christmas and never used it. It looked like it needed to feel needed, so I substituted it for both sugars and used 2/3 of cup of it. It is a much coarser grain that your regular sugars are, but I kind of liked and ended up using it several times. No one seemed to mind. If you have some raw sugar hanging out in your cabinet, give it a try.

I use the same milled flax seed that I used in the muffins.

I also have a secret weapon. Both of my kids will claim that they don't like nuts in their cookies, but they both regularly eat nuts in their cookies. Observe.

OK, I need a better camera, but here is the basic idea. I throw a bunch of pecans in the food processor. When they are finely chopped, I place them in a plastic container 1/4 cup at a time, separated by little sheets of wax paper that I cut for the occasion. I stick in in the freezer and just pull out a little section every time we make these cookies. That is about once a week.

And the oats. You can use any oats you like. I prefer the super thick ones that take you a full 12 minutes to cook if you are making a bowl for breakfast.

You will probably have to look for them in the section of your grocery store that has the healthy cereal.

Now let's make some cookies!



Here's the basic recipe:


Yummy Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons milled flax seed
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup raisins or chocolate chips or craisins or some other dried fruit of your choice

Cream butter and add sugar gradually. Add other ingredients in order and beat until mixed.

When I put them on the cookie sheet, I make little balls and them squish them a little.


It makes for a nice shaped cookie.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 13-15 minutes.

See. Aren't they lovely? And yummy.




Your batch should be a little bigger. I saved back some dough for the girl. She just loves cookie dough. She came by that honestly!


Enjoy!