Day 282: Everything Bagel, Cheddar Cheese and Bean Cookies
As I am still lacking time management skills, my plan to be home for dinner tonight failed miserably. Mike and W cooked a frozen Dr Oetker spinach pizza (amazing how much spinach is on these – and how much W will eat despite its obvious presence) and at about 6:30 pm I pulled over to get a coffee (up at 5:30am two mornings in a row and in bed well after midnight both nights) to keep me awake and a bagel to go with the chunk of cheese I had leftover from our last TV segment (I was on a foodstyling gig). I had pondered getting a cinnamon-raisin bagel – cheese sandwiches on raisin bread were a classic comfort food of my youth, and I still eat raisins and cheese together – but alas they had none. I survived.
Yesterday afternoon I taught a class on cooking for kids to 25 day care cooks in Red Deer, which included these oatmeal-chocolate chip-dried fruit cookies with pureed kidney beans in them – an entire large jar of white kidney or navy beans, well-blended. (This is key, lest anyone discover a nasty bean in their cookie. You need a food processor.) They have an amazingly tender, moist texture and keep longer than other low fat cookies. For this batch, I threw some green pumpkin seeds in too. (Pumpkin seeds are actually quite low in fat, and very high in protein.) K and I nibbled on the leftovers all day. I called them breakfast bean cookies because they make a good breakfast to take with you in the car.
Breakfast Bean Cookies
2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned, not instant)
1 cup all-purpose flour, or half all-purpose, half whole wheat
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 – 19 oz. (540 mL) can white kidney or navy beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips, the darker the better
1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, or a combination of dried fruits
1/4-1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/4-1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds (optional)
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)Preheat oven to 350° F.
Place the oats in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse flour. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer to a large bowl.
Put the beans into the food processor and pulse along with the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add the chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, seeds and flaxseed and stir just until blended.
Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, and flatten each one a little with your hand. (I find this works best if I dampen my hands first.) Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Per cookie: 138 calories, 3.5 g total fat (1.4 g saturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat, 0.8 g polyunsaturated fat), 3.4 g protein, 23 g carbohydrate, 14.2 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber. 22% calories from fat.
October 08 2008 | cookies & squares and eating out | 11 Comments »
