Thursday, February 19, 2009

Pumpkin, Seed, and Nut Cookies stack


Normally my diet is very healthy, but someties after a hard aerobic workout, nothing but a cookie will do. However I am fairly strict about the requirements for a cookie, they have to be healthy I know I know the idea of a healthy cookie is an oxymoron. First of all my cookies have to be soft and I have to attack their construction like the dishwasher method. Everything but the kitchen sink goes in I have to have oats, because they give the softness, not for me the Italian twice cooked cookie, I love to have a soft chewy cookie. In this case the soft bake comes from the oats and the pumpkin base, then the texture coems from the almonds, pumpkin seeds and chocolate for me it has to be dark chocolate.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
2 large organic eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon oure vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate in small chunks
1 cup whole oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Method.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread the almonds and pumpkin seeds on the paper, and toast for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats, and set aside. Whisk the flours, almond and flaxseed meals, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl, and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy about 2 minutes. Whisk the pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl, then add to the butter and sugar mixture, and mix on medium until well blended. Fold i nthe flour, add the chocolate chips, oats, and toasted almonds and pumpkin seeds, and stir to blend.

Drop the dough by heaping spoonfuls 2” apart on the baking sheets, and bake for 16 to 18
minutes, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through cooking, or until the cookies are barely cracked on top and brown around the edges. Cool for five
minutes on sheets, transfer to racks to cool completely.

1 comment:

sangeeta said...

this one definitely sounds a healthy cookie .....in India we get fresh pumpkin, can that be used in this recipe?? if yes, how do i do that?