Whisked Away Wednesday: A couple of cookies!

Happy Wednesday ! For my family's fourth ofJuly barbecue I was in charge of making cookies! I knew that one of the recipes I chose would have to be made with Splenda, as one of our guests is severely diabetic. I also knew that every year dad makes fresh raspberry ice cream, so I had to choose cookies that would go well with that. My first thought was lemon! I have been looking for a recipe to try and replicate the Lemon Zester Cookies from Paradise Bakery. They are one of my favorite things! I found a recipe on the Mcdonald Family Potluck blog and decided to give it a try, as an added bonus, it gave me a chance to try out my new (to me) vintage mixer that I got at a garage sale a few weeks ago!

The recipe doesn't specify oven temp so I set it at 375. I also refridgerated the dough overnight. When I pulled them out of the oven I was a little disappointed at first because they were flat as pancakes. However, they tasted delish. Buttery, lemoney and sweet, they were a great accompaniment to the rasperry ice cream, especially if used for an ice cream sandwich! They aren't much like the Paradise cookies but they are yummy nonetheless. Word to the wise, zesting the lemons takes quite a bit of time if you dont have a proper lemon zester. I used my trusty old cheese grater and it was a bit of a project. The fresh, zesty taste was definitley worth it.

For my diabetic friendly cookie I went with the recipe for Oatmeal Coconut Chewies from mel's cafe blog. I have made it many times to bring to work (not using Splenda) and it has always been a hit! I have never actually used Splenda for baking so this was kind of an adventure for me. Since the recipe calls for both granulated and brown sugar I got Splenda and a generic brown sugar substitute. Both claim to measure cup for cup like real sugar. I tried a bit of the brown sugar substitute before adding it to the batter and it tasted AWFUL! However, I decided to proceed in the hopes that after it was mixed in with the other ingredients and baked, it would be fine. I procedeed with the recipe as normal, when I peeked at the cookies half way through I noticed that they had not flattened out at all as they normally do, they were still in big balls. So, at this point I used a fork to press them down a bit so they would bake through. They turned out pretty good, surprisingly! They came out drier than the cookies made with real sugar, but all together the taste was not bad. They also aren't as sweet as the original cookie, but I was pleased with the results nonetheless.Actually, people who had never tried the original cookies couldn't tell that these were made with sugar substitue. If you are on a special diet or are baking for someone who is this would be a great cookie for them. However, nothing beats the original :) You might also try using 1/2 sugar substitute and 1/2 real sugar depending on a persons individual sugar tolerance. Have fun, experiment! Have a great week!

Lemon Zest Cookies

Recipe adapted from Gather Round the Table

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter (room temperature)

Zest of 4 lemons

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. lemon extract

¼ cup lemon juice

1 egg + 2 egg yolks

3 cups flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Procedure

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, at least five minutes.

Add the lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon extract and continue mixing to combine.

Add eggs, contine to mix, add one egg yolk at a time, mixing after each one.

Sift the three dry ingredients together into a bowl and add to wet mixture.

Add lemon juice to form a soft dough. Refridgerate, covered, for at least one hour (I did overnight). Place heaping tablespoon fools onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. These spread ALOT, I only put six on each cookie sheet so that they would have enough room to expand. Bake 9-12 minutes until cookies are SLIGHTLY browned on the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet. The recipe makes about 24 big, flat, delicious cookies!

Oatmeal Coconut Chewies with Splenda

from My Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com)

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar or Splenda

1 cup brown sugar or sugar substitute

2 eggs

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to cool room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup shredded coconut (I usually use unsweetened but this time I used sweetened)

1 cup quick oats

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mine didn't get very light or fluffy due to the Splenda, but it didn't affect the end result :)

In a large bowl cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If using sugar substitutes press down lightly on the top of each cookie with a fork to flatten it a bit. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are set but not overly browned.