Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies

(Makes 3 dozen)

These are so tasty. The dough isn't very sweet so the jam is a nice compliment. We had fun with lingonberry jam, strawberry preserves and cinnamon chips! Pam

Ingredients

1 cup Smart Balance or butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cup hard white wheat flour OR 2 cups wheat & 1 cup ground oatmeal

3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

fruit jam

3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.

Separate egg, reserving egg white. Cream butter or margarine, sugar, and egg yolk.

Add vanilla, flour and salt, mixing well. Set dough in freezer for 10 mins.

Shape dough into balls. Roll in egg white, then walnuts. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven. With thumb, dent each cookie. Put jelly or preserves in each thumbprint. Bake for another 9-10 minutes. YUM!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe was created one night when a craving for chocolate hit. Had to be a bit healthy though, so here ya' go! Enjoy! Pam

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 T. cocoa

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/2 cup butter or white bean puree

1/3 - 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 - 1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup chopped craisins (sub for choc. chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In small bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside

In large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add dry ingredients.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased or lined cookie sheets and bake 8-10 mins.

Cool on baking sheet 5 mins. and then onto a cooling rack.

Fruit Pizza OR Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies w/ Healthy(ish) Frosting

From: Rochelle

Last week, Austin and I bought some strawberries from Costco. What's a better way to eat them than on a fruit pizza! You can use these recipes to make a fruit pizza OR just a healthier sugar cookie. Your choice! I LOVE the frosting recipe because seriously, using these healthy ingredients almost gives it the texture of marshmallow creme, SO good!

Healthy Fruit Pizza OR Sugar Cookies

Whole-Wheat Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

·         2 cups whole wheat flour (If you aren't use to the taste of Whole Wheat, you might want to 1 C Whole-Wheat and 1 C White)

·         2 teaspoons baking powder

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup sugar (You can use honey, I will be honest,  it needs the sugar. It's a cookie!) 

·          (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (Or ¼ C Oil, ¼ C Butter)

·         1 egg (Or 2 egg whites or ¼ C egg substitute)

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1.        In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour with the baking powder and salt.   In another bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until light lemon-yellow, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and milk, then add the  flour mixture ½ cup at a time and mix until blended.

2.        Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until firm. This step is really important! 

               

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out until thin, about 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes, or make the size you want your pizza.  sprinkle with sugar and place on the prepared sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cutout cookies.

Healthy(ish) Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 C Smart Balance Butter

1 (8 oz) Block of FAT-FREE Cream Cheese

2 C Powered Sugar (or to taste)

2 T Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

Blend with an electric blender until very smooth and fluffy. I recommend starting with the cream cheese, milk, and vanilla. Then gradually add the powdered sugar to taste. 

To assemble your fruit pizza:

1. Bake your sugar cookie crust. Let cool.

2. Spread frosting.

3. Put on desired fruit. We used strawberries & Pineapple, but blueberries and mango would be good too. 

4. Cut and eat!! 

Swedish Taffy Creams

From: Rochelle

So for Christmas, I made cookies to give to our neighbors. I remember making these Swedish Taffy Creams with my mom and LOVING them. I really like them because they are such a unique cookie and hardly anyone has heard of. They just aren't made that often. Just a warning, other than the oats, there isn't much that is healthy about these cookies, but they are good!

Swedish Taffy Creams
Cookies:
1 C   Butter
1/3 C   Sugar
1/3 C   Milk
1/3 C   Dark Corn Syrup
1 1/3 C  Oats
1 1/2 C  Whole-Wheat Flour
1 t    Baking Powder
1 t   Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt Butter, add remaining ingredients and mix. Drop by teaspoons (I made mine bigger, but these are good as LITTLE cookies too), at least 2 inches apart on a well greased cookie sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes, then let cool for 2 mins. Put two cookies together with filling or cool whip.

Filling:
1 T Flour
1 T + 1/4 C Sugar
2/3 C Milk
2   Egg Yolks or 1 Egg
1/2 C Butter

Combine flour and 1 tablespoon sugar in saucepan. Gradually add milk and egg, mix well. Cook over low head, stirring constantly till boils and thick. Cool. Cream butter with remaining sugar. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Make about 12 large cookies or 25 smaller cookies.

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

From: Rochelle


A week or so ago I taught a "Healthy Holiday Cooking" class for my club fundraiser. I did lots of research and found lots of excellent recipes and tips to help cut calories during the holiday season. One of the recipes I found was for these whole wheat sugar cookies. I thought this might be a good one to share since people usually decorate sugar cookies over the holidays. I will tell you, you can taste the whole-wheat in these cookies, but I actually like it and plus with frosting on it, you can't tell anyways.


P.S. Austin gobbled these up in a day!


Healthy Frosting Tips: 
Pillsbury has just come out with sugar-free frosting. This might be a good option to decorate your cookies with.
Also, another good tip is to take all of the frosting out of the tub, and put it in a bowl. Then, using electric beaters, beat the frosting to incorporate more air into the frosting. I add just about 2-3 teaspoons of water as well.  Not only does this make your frosting last longer, but you are using & eating a little bit less frosting. They use this trick with ice cream. They incorporate more air into your ice cream to make it softer and fluffier.

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
2 C   Whole Wheat Flour
2 t      Baking Powder
1/2 t   Salt
1 C    Sugar
1/2 C  Unsalted Butter (I used 1/4 C Butter and 1/4 C White Bean Puree)
1        Egg (or 1/4 C Egg Substitute
1 t     Vanilla Extract
2 T    Milk


Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour with the baking powder and salt. 
2. In another bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until a light lemon-yellow, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and milk, then add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time and mix until blended. 
3. Form dough into disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until firm. 
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out until thin, about 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes, sprinkle with sugar and place on the prepared sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool. 

Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cookies.