Angela's Healthy Oatmeal Raisin/Nut Cookies

Dry Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour, 1 cup
Quaker Oats oatmeal, 1.33 cup
Baking Powder, 1 tsp
Cinnamon, ground, 1 tsp
Baking Soda, .50 tsp
Salt, .50 tsp

Wet Ingredients:
Applesauce, unsweetened, .75 cup
Maple Syrup, .25 cup (remove)
Yogurt, plain, low fat, .25 cup (8 fl oz)
Coconut Oil, 2 tbsp
Egg, fresh, 1 large
Vanilla Extract, 1 tsp
Raisins, 1 cup, packed
Walnuts, 1 cup, chopped

* Next Time I'm going to use 1/2 Quinoa flour and 1/2 whole wheat (experiment). I'll let you know.

SEE BELOW.

This recipe makes 30 Perfect sized cookies.

In a small bowl - COMBINE the dry ingredients: flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together.

In a large bowl - COMBINE the wet ingredients: applesauce/unsweetened, maple syrup, yogurt, oil, egg and vanilla, raisins, walnuts. (I use Motts unsweetened applesauce)

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients to make a blended dough.

Heat oven to 350.

DROP mixture using your miniature ice cream scoop (or by rounded tablespoon) 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until very lightly browned. Do not over bake. Slide cookies from parchment paper (or Silpat) onto counter top to cool.

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1) Soak your raisins (with filtered water) first. I soaked mine for about 1 hour. It just fills up your raisins with juiciness and makes your cookies much more moist. Soaking them the night before works great.

2) After I put the batter on the cookie sheet, I press the batter down with a fork to flatten them before they bake. You don't have to do this, but I like my cookies more flat than mounded.

3) I buy my oatmeal from Costco and I use Quaker Oats. (it's a great value).

4) I used a miniature ice cream scoop, available at Bed Bath and Beyond. It assures all your cookies are the same size and it's so easy to use.

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TIME SAVING TIP #1 - Be sure your counters are clear and your sink is free of dishes. In other words, "clear the decks" before you cook. It may seem like common sense, but many times I have just "jumped in" and started cooking when the mood struck, and I always regretted not following that sage advice.

TIME SAVING TIP #2 - Take out all your ingredients BEFORE you begin. My experience has shown that things go much quicker this way.

TIMER SAVER TIP #3 - Cover your cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat right after you take out your ingredients.

ENERGY SAVING TIP: I usually turn my oven on AFTER I'm done measuring and putting all the dry and wet ingredients into my bowl, and have finished the combining process. Immediately after I turn on my oven, I clear the counters, put all the ingredients back and wash the dishes while the oven preheats.

NOTE: Depending on your oven you may have to bake them more or less. You'll know when they reach a nice caramel colored brown color that they are done.

p.s. The day after I made the cookies, they were even sweeter after having sat all night long. I love this recipe.

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PERSONAL NOTE: I'm currently working on recipes that replace all the bad fats/sugars/white flour, etc. from my diet. I decided to make this recipe because, for some reason, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning with a CRAVING for Old-Fashioned Raisin Oatmeal Cookies.

SO ... I did some online searching, viewed a few recipes I thought sounded "somewhat healthy" and then decided upon a Sun-Maid cookie recipe I thought could be tweaked just a bit more. I changed the sweetener and improved on the fat source.

So this is my adapted and amended recipe. I removed the brown sugar (which is basically white sugar with a bit of molasses in it) and replaced it with a combination of applesauce and Grade A Maple Syrup. Instead of Canola Oil, I used Coconut Oil. I thought they might taste bland or that maybe I would be dissatisfied with the texture, but I was so happy (and so was hubby) that they came out grrrrrrrrrreat. They are very very satisfying and have a wonderful mouth feel. I can even have two of them with my morning coffee. YUMmo!

* Next Time I'm going to use 1/2 Quinoa flour and 1/2 whole wheat (experiment). I'll let you know.

Try them, I think you'll like em.