Coco-Hazelnut Cookies

Last week I went to Oktoberfest up in Mount Angel, Oregon. While there, I walked by a booth with a nice German lady selling all things hazelnut. I couldn't resist picking up a bag of hazelnut flour and a jar of hazelnut butter. While the jar of hazelnut butter is already long gone (it is DELICIOUS), the hazelnut flour has been waiting around in my freezer for the past week. I came across a recipe for Coconut Thumbprint Cookies on the Atkins website and decided to change it up and give it a try with hazelnut flour. The cookies came out really tender, my sister commented they were more of a scone consistency than a cookie. The way the flavors of the hazelnut and coconut meld together is delicious. The jam thumbprint is ok, but not really necessary. Next time I am going to make them in scone shape and just eat them as is or put the jam on afterward.

Hazelnut Coconut Cookies

Adapted from Atkins Website

Yield about 30

½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
½ cup hazelnut flour
½ cup soy flour
2½ tablespoons granular sugar substitute (I used Splenda)
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 8 pieces
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon coconut extract (I used vanilla)
3 tablespoons any flavor unsweetened fruit jam

Mix coconut, hazelnut flour soy flour and sugar substitute to combine. Cut in butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Add egg, yolk and extract and mix until dough just comes together. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours, until somewhat firm. Roll dough into balls and arrange on an ungreased baking sheet. Dip thumb into warm water and make a depression in the center of each ball, forming a doughnut-like shape (but not pressing completely though).

Fill each depression with ¼ -teaspoon jam. Bake until golden, about 6 minutes. Cool 1 minute on baking sheet before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.


Nutrition data for one cookie (if you make 30)
Calories: 61.5
Fat: 5.71 g
Total Carb: 1.36 g
Net Carb: .85 g
Protein: 1.17 g


Nutrition data for whole recipe
Calories: 1846
Fat: 171.3 g
Total Carbs: 40.87 g
Net Carbs: 25.37 g
Protein: 35.21 g


After cooking the cookies had absorbed some of the jam so I added a bit more on top to make them look prettier.

Hope you all enjoy!

Linking up at Foodie Friday.

Peachy Keen Applesauce

I have a great recipe for you today! I love applesauce but I am not a big fan of the store bought variety. The cheaper kinds tends to include lots of artificial sweeteners, and the good, unsweetened stuff is usually pretty expensive. I also like my sauce chunky, if it's too smooth, the texture reminds me of baby food. Homemade applesauce is actually really easy to make, no special equipment required. Right now is the perfect time of year to make applesauce as apples are just coming in to season, so lots of stores have them on special right now. Also in season? Peaches and berries! Why not cook them all together and make mixed fruit sauce? Well that's just what I did. You could use pretty much any fruit to do this, have a few apricots? Throw them in! Extra strawberries? That works too! Basically whatever fruit you may have sitting around could go in the pot. The best part was that adding the blueberries and ripe peaches made my sauce perfectly sweet, no sugar needed! Hello guilt free snack! Top it with some granola or mix with oatmeal for a delightful breakfast treat! Also works really well to stick in a school lunch for the kiddos to make sure they are getting their recommended daily servings of fruit. This sauce can be made in large batches and frozen for later use. Easy peasy! Enjoy!

Peachy Keen Applesauce

Ingredients:

3 ripe peaches (pitted)

5 apples (cored)

1/2 cup blueberries

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp lemon juice

Cinnamon

Rinse fruit, cut into large chunks and put in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. If you prefer a smoother sauce, remove peels. Add water. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring occasionally (I did about every 7 or 8 minutes). Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until fruit is tender and skins are softened. Uncover and simmer until almost all liquid in saucepan has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and cinnamon. Using fork or potato masher, mash mixture until coarse and chunky. Again, if you like your sauce smoother, you can allow it to cool, then put in a food processor or blender. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate until cold.

I love a good fruit sauce!

What are you yummy treats are you cooking up this weekend? Hope they turn out SUPER!

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.