Tag / healthier cookies

by tessbrennan

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies

My daughter loves Peanut Butter cookies.  I try to make them a step healthier.  Here is what we use for our recipe… Her reply – “Yum, mommy, these taste just like the other cookies! This recipe uses less sugar and a substitution of some protein powder to offset some of the empty carbs.

Ingredients

1 cup organic butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugarPeanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies Nutrition
1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut Butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup Protein Powder
1 1/4 cup organic all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1 cup oat meal (if you have a texture picky child, like mine, you can grind this into a flour)

Directions

 Preheat your oven to 350 degree F

Mix protein, flour, baking soda, sea salt and oats in a medium bowl – save to add to wet

In a mixer cream the butter, sugars and peanut butter until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined completely.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.  I used a medium sized Pampered Chef scoop to measure them out.

Bake 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven.  JUST UNTIL LIGHT BROWN.  Don’t over-bake.

Store in an airtight container, or give to neighbors.  😉

by tessbrennan

Healthier Fruit Pizza

In a world of quick options, we frequently “don’t have that option” so I make things from scratch.  Since I’m making it from scratch, I may as well kick the nutrition up a bit as I go… So here is my recipe for healthier Fruit Pizza.

Start with the crust:

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  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 3/4 cup natural sugar
  • 1 1/4 Tbsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup instant protein
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp salt

In a large bowl with your mixer:

  1. Beat butter for 1 minute
  2. Add sugar and beat another 3 minutes
  3. Beat in vanilla and eggs – mix 1 minute
  4. Scrape the sides of the bowl if needed
  5. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes
  6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
  7. Spray down your stone baking dish with olive oil (very well)
  8. I divided dough between two pans (see photos below) and spread it out with my hands.
  9. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned
  10. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

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For cream topping:

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  • 8 ounces Neufchatel Cheese (WARM & SOFT)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces sour cream
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  1. Beat cream cheese with mixer 2 minutes
  2. Mix in sugar & vanilla for 1 more minute
  3. Beat in sour cream until mixture is smooth
  4. Mix in zest of the orange
  5. Spread 1/2 of mixture onto each baked cookie crust and smooth around
  6. Arrange fruit around on the pizza top as desired.
  7. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes and slice to serve

 

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Fruit pizza with a bit of protein to stabilize blood sugar, no preservatives or artificial anything! Great for a pot luck or just as a special treat for cleaning your plate of all the veggies and protein!!!

by tessbrennan

Healthier-Corn Free-Reindeer Cookies

Well, Christmas is almost here, less than a week. My darling daughter has been begging me to make cookies for Santa so we did. Smile

I always try to kick the health up a bit when I bake or cook for my family, so this recipe has a few healthy changes as compared to most other recipes.  (Like 1/2 the sugar, mixed flours, and protein powder)

What it takes:

1/4 Cup Instant Protein
1     Cup oat flour
1     Cup unbleached flour
1     tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (sometimes I do less than this-like a 1/4)
1     Cup (2 sticks) organic butter – softened
1/2 Cup cane sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
2     tsp Vanilla extract
2     Eggs
1     Bag of Un41’s (Unreal Candy)
1     Bag Pretzel Crisps (flavor your choice)

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  • Preheat oven to 350* F.
  • Stir flour with baking soda and salt; leave for later.
  • Beat softened butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy.
  • Add vanilla then eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed. Mix it all up good.
  • Gradually blend dry ingredients into creamy mixture.
  • Scoop out into rounded balls (I use a pampered chef cookie scoop so they are all the same size.)
  • Place the Un41’s, 3 per cookie, in a close triangle. These will spread as the cookies bake.
  • Place 2 broken pretzel crisps in the side of the dough ball, over the eyes.
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes, depending on your oven.

This recipe allows for great taste, half the sugar, a slight protein punch and mixed grain flours to up your fiber a bit. Unreal candy is from whole foods with no artificial ingredients, corn syrups, or preservatives. The pretzel crisps only have 3 ingredients.  Enjoy!  

It IS still a cookie, but it is also just a step healthier.

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Just to keep it real… They didn’t all look this cute! Smile

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