So, as an appropriate follow-up to my “sugar is bad” post, here are some hibiscus sugar cookies!

Good for the soul, right?

A coworker just came back from Egypt, and brought with him a large amount of hibiscus.   Of course, my first reaction was, “Will this be good in cookies?”  Short answer?  Yes.   Yes, it was.

Tastes of Egypt.

I did a bit of research, and it turns out that hibiscus is some sort of magical flower.

“A 2008 USDA study shows consuming hibiscus tea lowers blood pressure in a group of pre-hypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults. Three cups of tea daily resulted in an average drop of 8.1 point in their systolic blood pressure, compared to a 1.3 point drop in the volunteers who drank the placebo beverage. Study participants with higher blood pressure readings (129 or above) had a greater response to hibiscus tea: their systolic blood pressure went down by 13.2 points. These data support the idea that drinking hibiscus tea in an amount readily incorporated into the diet may play a role in controlling blood pressure, although more research is required.”

Cool, right?  Not to mention:

A report by Medical News Today states that one of the benefits of hibiscus is its capacity to control cholesterol. It references a study by the Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan, which found that it contains antioxidants that have the capacity to lower the buildup of fatty acids and lower levels of cholesterol in the body.

In addition, it is loaded with Vitamin C.  Also:

Hibiscus is also the source of the hydroxycitric acid (HCA, or hydroxycut) used in many diet formulas. This compound has been long used to fight obesity. Scientific studies with lab animals find that it stops the conversion of carbs in food to body fat. It fights appetite and encourages weight loss not by increasing energy expenditure but by encouraging the “wasting” of carbohydrates.

Seriously, you could write a book about all the properties of hibiscus tea.  I also read that it’s used in traditional Eastern medicines to prevent hair loss and to treat cramps.

But me?  I went ahead and made cookies and probably more than negated the good aspects of the flower.  But it was worth it because it tasted awesome.   Super delicious.

Blood Pressure Cookies?

So, what I did was mix together some cookie dough, roll it into tubes, and cut off neat little round slices of cookies.   These were just as good a week later, so you know it’s good stuff.

I ate like 6.

Here is the recipe, yo!

Hibiscus Tea Cookies

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup soymilk
• 2 tablespoons hibiscus tea
• 1/4 teaspoon rose water
• 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pink Sugar (Optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Boil 2 tablespoons of hibiscus tea in 3/4 cup soymilk until it is a deep red.
3. Cream together Earth Balance and sugar.  Mix in tea and rose water (The kind in the baking section. Not the perfume kind).
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.   Fold into the tea and Earth balance mixture.
5. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours.  Divide in half and roll into logs/tubes.   Roll in pink sugar and slice off little cookie rounds.
6. Bake cookies 8-10 minutes, or until golden on the bottom.

Notes: I started with whole hibiscus petals, so it expanded when boiled in the soymilk, and possibly helped absorb more flour.  If starting with ground up petals, keep an eye on how moist the cookies are and adjust as needed.

When I was little I reeeeeally loved those sugary packs of  instant oatmeal, but my mom never bought the stuff.  As a result, I still think of it as a really big treat!  It was so sugary and tasted more like a dessert than breakfast.  Apple Cinnamon, Maple Nut, Peaches and Cream!   What’s not to love?   Ah, but my mom insisted on making old fashioned oats or malt-o-meal or whole wheat oat-laden pancakes…  you know, healthy stuff.  In my wise old age, I can see why we were never an instant oatmeal family.  Those little packs oatmeal are over-priced, over-sweetened, and over-preserved.  Heck, these days I think some of them even have candy in them.   I mean, dinosaur eggs?  What’s that all about?

Can't be good for you...

Well ladies and gentlemen, I’ve found a way to have my cake and eat it, too.  Or rather, have my oatmeal and eat it, too.

Jars make everything exciting.

I made my own oatmeal mix!  And, if I do say myself, it’s way better than the instant stuff.   It’s nice having a mix all ready for breakfast whenever I want it.  I don’t have to think about adding things to my oatmeal… I just take half a cup of the mix, throw it in half a cup of boiling water, and bam!  Delicious amazing oatmeal.  And when you’re half asleep, it’s really great not to have to use the brain too much.

All cooked up and looking scrumptious

We’ve got dried apples, flax seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and of course, old fashioned oats!

Mmm

Oh yes! And some brown sugar.  I’m not completely a grown-up yet.  I’m not going to leave the brown sugar out of my apple pie oatmeal.  What kind of person do you take me for?

Nothing beats breakfast.

Oh, and did I mention that the mix also included dry coconut milk?   The resulting flavor combination was really something wonderful.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

Apple Pie Oatmeal Mix

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup coconut milk powder
• 1/2 cup dried apple pieces
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Additional ingredient:

• 1/2 cup water per serving

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients and store in an airtight container.
2. To prepare oatmeal: Shake mix well.   In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup oatmeal mix.   Bring to boil.  Simmer for about 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

So, there you have it!   You’re very welcome to use less or more sugar, of course.  Whatever floats your boat!  Also, I like to add cold soymilk to my oatmeal after it’s done cooking.   I think it has a much better flavor and texture than instant oatmeal… and I bet it’d be really good with steel cut oats, as well.  Something to try next time!

So I’ve got some sad news.   My hard drive failed!  I mean, it’s not the saddest news in the world, since I had a fat juicy warranty and hopped over to the apple store and they gave me a brand new hard drive, a new charger, cleaned my computer, and promised to give me new casing too if I wanted to set an appointment for it (I had to go to work so I passed on the casing that day).  The problem is, like an idiot, I hadn’t backed up my stuff in a while.  So, I lost a whole trove of recipes, and some photos, too.  Luckily, I rarely clear out my camera, so there are still lots of photos hanging around on there.   I did lose some really beautiful photos of my pecan pie bars, but I guess that just means I have to make them again.  Worse things have happened.  And now I’ve got to completely reconstruct recipes for goodies like:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Whole Wheat, Flax, and Oats.

Spinach Basil Quiche

Mmmm Quiche

Inside the quiche.

Cocoa Energy Balls

Chocolate Balls of Healthy

Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes

Worth failing a drug test for.

Carrot Cake Balls

Delicious and SO cute.

Smothered in "cream cheese" glaze.

Cinnamon Buns

Cinnamon Bun Easter Baskets? Best idea ever. Thank you, Wilton, for the amazing cupcake wrappers.

These were so cute, they made me squeak.

Chocolate Fudge Bunnies

Mr. Bunny was delicious. Rich creamy chocolate fudge with a hard chocolate shell.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Eggs

Nothing beats peanut butter and chocolate. True story.

And un-pictured:

(Gluten Free) Pecan Pie Bars

(Gluten Free) Quinoa Peanut Butter Cookies

Strawnana Muffins

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars

So, while I try to write some new recipes and re-edit my photos, here are some pictures of my Easter layout.  I know it’s two weeks later, but hey!  My hard drive crashed.  Died.  Kaput!   What can a girl do?   I only just re-installed Photoshop today.  It was a betch trying to find the serial number.   Anyway, my Easter shindig was just sooo cute that I had to share some photos.  Hopefully I’ll re-write the recipes soon enough.

Easter Basket Table

I made little Easter baskets for all of my guests.  They had peanut butter chocolate eggs, oreo truffles, chocolate fudge bunnies, jelly beans, dark chocolate foiled wrapped eggs, some little wrapped squares of fancy chocolate, and Annie’s gummy bunnies.

Easter Basket

I get a little carried away sometimes.

Table

This is how the table looked before it was covered with cupcakes, cinnamon buns, quiche, fresh fruit, mimosas, parsnip pancakes, veggie chips, etc.  It was an awesome potluck brunch.   And the flowers smelled sooo good.

Easter Flowers

Anyway, that’s all for now folks.

Oh goodness tomorrow is Mother’s day!  I don’t think I’ll be able to write a good Mother’s Day brunchy sort of recipe by tomorrow, but I guess that’s just how things are sometimes.  But hey, I can at least remind you to call your mom!  Call your mother!

Looking for something to do with your leftover matzoh?

Matzoh Magic!

I meant to post this recipe early last week, but I started baking and candy making for Easter, and I spent so much time just making things that I didn’t have time to post any of them.   Also I would have posted it Monday or Tuesday, but I had given up TV for lent so I spent all day Monday and Tuesday watching TV.   I have more than made up for my 40 tv-free days and nights.   In other news, I discovered that I really enjoy spending my time doing more productive things, so now that my TV binge is over, it’s going back on a restricted basis.

Let’s get back to the candy.

God, I love chocolate.

Oh  you know, just some ridiculous candy bar I got it into my head to make.  No biggy.   Just candied matzoh, flavored with rum, layered with peanut butter mousse, and covered in dark chocolate.  No big deal.

It all started in such a simple innocent way.  That’s always how these stories go, isn’t it?  I’m incapable of leaving things simple in the kitchen.

Anyway, I was inspired by Little Debbie’s Nutty Bars.  I used to love love these things when i was kid.   Lance, the East Coast vending machine snack king, made a version of these without Little Debbie’s annoying egg whites.  Seriously!  Why does that dumb company but egg whites in EVERYTHING?   Lance makes most of the same products, but without the eggs.   So, I used to get these out of the vending machines and the day that I learned they had whey in them was a sad sad day.   I was 10 or 11 and trying to figure out what I could or couldn’t eat as a new vegan.   I remember reading the ingredients to the Nutty Bars over and over again and thinking they were OK.   A few weeks later someone told me that whey came from milk.   Zut!   Bah humbug!   Oh Nutty Bars!  How I miss you.

Nutty Bars

So, I’ve had Nutty Bars on the mind recently, and was seriously considering buying some wafer sheets to make my own.   I would just make my own wafers as well, but it seems you need some fancy equipment to do that, and I am but a lone little lady with a minimalist apartment kitchen.   However, while I was staring longingly at the wafer sheetrs on Amazon.com, I suddenly realized that I could make the nutty bars using matzo!  And they’d be an awesome passover treat, right?

So that’s what I did.   And I did it two ways.  The first way was as simple as could be.  I took the sheets of matzo straight from the box, cut them into strips using a hot sharp knife, spread them with all natural peanut butter, layered them, and covered them with chocolate.

Matzoh!

This version was all sorts of crispy, rich, and not very sweet.

Crisp!

So, of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone.  My next thought was, why don’t I candy the matzo à la chocolate covered toffee matzoh?  And in the candy-toffee mixture, why don’t I throw in a couple tablespoons of rum?   Then, because that’s not ridiculous enough, why don’t I make some peanut butter mousse to fill the matzoh bars?   And yeah, why don’t I use some ridiculously expensive guittard chocolate to top the whole thing off?

I am a ridiculous human being.   That’s all I can say.

Candy Candy Candy

This was hella good , if not exactly what I was expecting.   The peanut butter mousse made the matzoh softer and not at all crisp.   I’m not sure if this would have been the case if I hadn’t left the matzoh-mousse layers sitting in the fridge for two days before covering them in chocolate.  In any case, soft or not, it was good.    It may not have been a Nutty Bar, but it was full of some really amazing flavors and it was extremely rich.  I cut the bars into small pieces so the bars wouldn’t be too overwhelming for my friends.

Matzoh Candy Bar

To candy the Matzo:

• 1/2 lb matzos
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon rum

Directions:

1. Line a cookie sheet with foil and lay matzo on pan.
2. Melt brown sugar with butter in saucepan; boil until mixture coats a spoon.
3. Brush matzo with brown sugar mixture.
4. Bake in 350 degree oven for 3-4 minutes until it starts to bubble.  Don’t let it burn!
5. Cut the matzo into strips.  Don’t worry if it breaks a bit.  The peanut butter will hold it together in the end.

Peanut butter mousse:

• 12 oz. Extra-Firm Silken Tofu (like Mori-Nu)
• 1 cup all-natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons soymilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.  Add more soymilk if necessary to thin the mixture out.   It’s important to use the all natural peanut butter without added ingredients, or your mousse might be too sweet.   Taste and adjust.

Assembly Directions:

1. Spread mousse on matzoh and layer slices of matzo / mousse.   Freeze.
2. Melt 2 cups chocolate wafers or chips in a double boiler, and cover bars in chocolate.
3. BAM.   Matzo Candy Bars!   Win.

If you’re vegan, you probably see waffles and immediately think, “Eggs and milk,” and then perhaps sigh a bit to yourself while munching sadly on a lone apple slice.

*sigh* waffles

If you’re on a gluten-free diet, you might stare longingly at the waffles and think, “Wheat, gluten, poison!” None for you.  And none for the vegans.  Let’s just keep working on that fruit plate.    *sigh*

But they look so good!

If you’re keeping kosher for passover, you probably saw these pictures and hated me for a minute.   “Dina, don’t you know I can only eat matzo for the next week?   Away with ye, evil temptress!”

Ah, but I have a surprise for you, ladies and gentle-diet-restricted-folk.

These waffles are made with almond flour.  They are vegan.  They are gluten free.   And by many accounts, they are kosher for passover.

Yay Waffles!

Wait a second… come again?   Vegan, gluten-free, and OK for passover?   And they were even GOOD.   How is that even possible?

Magic, science, and a good look at the traditional definition of “chametz” makes it possible.   The only questionable ingredient in these waffles is baking soda, and according to the New York Times, and several other articles I’ve read, baking soda AND baking powder  can be totally legit for passover.

Lise Stern, author of “How to Keep Kosher” (Morrow, 2004), said: “Chometz, which means sharp or sour, denotes bread that has a sourness to it caused by fermentation, occurring when liquid is added to any of the five grains mentioned in the Torah. This refers to yeast, not baking powder or baking soda.”

Rabbi Soloveichik said: “They’re just minerals. What do we care about minerals?”

Well said.  And Rabbi Lerner seems to agree:

Historically, one could use seltzer as well to make matzah balls to rise, but one needed a hechshar for the seltzer as according to some opinions certain brands used carbon dioxide derived from factories making beer, hence derived from hametz. Today, I believe that carbon dioxide is made chemically if only for purposes of efficiency and cost.

The only issue that some rabbis seem to have with baking powder is that it is often made with corn starch.  However, I have seen several little cans of “Kosher for Passover” baking powder at the supermarket, so if you’re worried about corn, then just use that!

Anyway, enough talking.  Here is the recipe!

Almond Waffles (makes 2)

• 3/4 cups almond flour (aka almond meal)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons flax meal
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda.   In a smaller bowl, combine flax meal, potato starch, water, oil, vanilla, and agave.  Stir to help the potato starch dissolve into the water and let it sit for a minute to allow the flax to thicken.   Combine wet and dry ingredients… there is no gluten so feel free to stir all you want!
3. Make waffles in waffle iron according to manufacturers instructions.
4. EAT.

And… that’s it guys. Fricken easy.  Fricken good.  It only makes two waffles, but they’re like 100% nuts so they’re very filling and I myself was only able to eat one waffle.  But feel free to double or triple the recipe if you see fit.   Or make lots of  little tiny waffles.  That’d be super cute, too.

A note on almond flour: It’s possible to make your own almond flour by first blanching the almonds and then grinding them in a food processor until smooth, but before becoming almond butter.  However, that’s time consuming and I just went and bought myself a bag of Bob’s Red Mill certified gluten-free almond meal.

What a fast, delicious, and protein-filled breakfast!   Win.

I’ve made matzoh ball soup once before in my life.  It was junior year, I was living with a wonderful, beautiful, awesome Jewish roommate, and we were trying to get rid of her extra matzoh at the end of Passover.  So, of course, I made some matzoh ball soup!  And, it was my first taste of the stuff… and it was good.  I loved it.

So, today I bought a box of matzoh with a very specific confectionary delight in mind, and I decided that half the box could be spared for matzoh ball soup.  Damn, that was a good idea.   Now, I’m regretting that I only spared half the box.   I took the sheets of matzoh and put them first through the food processor, and then to make them extra fine, through my coffee grinder (which is used more often for spices and oats and things than coffee).

I kind of followed this recipe by the Post Punk Kitchen.

However, when I got to the part about mixing soup stock into the matzoh meal, I made an unfortunate discovery.  No soup stock!   Zut alors!  So I got all creative and mixed together some spices and water and soy sauce and vinegar.  Then I pushed the matzoh mixture into the fridge to chill, and went about making soup stock.

I wish I could tell you what I put in that soup stock… but I was drinking red wine (let’s pretend it was Manishewitz, cause I really wanted it to be Manishewitz) and I went into a cooking trance.   Cooking trances happen to me whether or not I’m drinking wine.   It makes it especially hard for me to teach people how to make some of my dishes, cause I’m not exactly sure what goes in them myself.  All I know is that I started today by tasting the water, and then I started pulling various spices and sauces from the cabinets and fridge, and I ended with an incredible soup stock.  Um, I think there was tarrgon and oregano and basil and liquid smoke and soy sauce and… other things.  I don’t know.  It was a little bit of this, taste, a little bit of that, taste… and then the end was just so good.   Damn you, cooking trance!

And then, I rolled the matzo balls and dropped them into the broth.   I’ve read that it’s best to leave them simmering for 40 minutes… and then, allegedly, they get even better after soaking for an additional hour.  However, I can’t seem to manage waiting that long.   35-ish minutes went by and I declared it soup time.  I was hoping that I could save a ball or two to photograph properly tomorrow morning, with sunlight and a brightly colored backdrop and a sheet of matzoh-prop.   However, after the first few bites, I realized no balls would survive until the morning.

This is the one photo I managed to take, fogged with steam, blurry, and in bad lighting:

Last lonely matzo ball.

That ball was devoured with great relish.  I came to the end of my bowl and cried, “Why! Why aren’t there more matzoh balls?”   Ah, zut alors!

The funniest part of the whole affair was when I handed my sister’s boyfriend his bowl of matzoh balls and, before trying it, he asked, “Is there any bread to go with the soup?”

Hah!  Uh, that kind of defeats the point of matzoh ball soup, doesn’t it?

This was maybe the best bread I’ve ever made… and it was an accident!

Accidental Bread .... good band name.

Now, you may wonder how one makes bread by accident.  Did I trip and knead some dough as I fell to the floor?   Whoopsy!  Bread!   No no no, nothing so silly.   The beginnings of this bread were quite normal, if not intended to be bread.  You see, this is quite an old photo– from last June, I believe.   What happened was that I had just moved into a sublet for the summer, and there were 6 other tenants in the house!   So, in an attempt to make them like me, I decided to make croissants!  I went through all the normal steps and then put the dough in the fridge to rise over night.

Croissant Bread?

However, the next morning came, and I was unexpectedly called out of the house.  So I thought, oh the dough will be fine for another day.  I’ll just make the croissants tomorrow.

But tomorrow came and went and no croissants were made.  So I left it in the fridge for another day… and then another… and then another… and then another.   At this point, the idea of turning this dough into croissants seemed like a hassle and a chore and probably doomed.  I couldn’t imagine that the dough would still be workable nor that the yeast could possibly still be alive.   So, I ignored it.  And left it in the fridge.   The next thing I know, a month had passed.   Finally, in a fit of courage, I took the bag off the pan of dough.  It smelled like beer, sourdough, and butter.  My dough had fermented, with the Earth Balance still locked in its layers.

I wondered to myself if this big lump of fermenting dough was still edible to humans.  It seemed like a waste to throw it out, and it seemed like it couldn’t possibly hurt to bake it.  After all, if I baked it, I’d kill the bacteria right?   Well, it was worth a try!   Waste not, want not!

I didn’t want to actually cut and roll the dough into croissants, because it was looking a little weird and gooey… so I just left the dough in the big rectangular lump I had folded it into so very long ago.   I brushed the top with a nice “egg” wash (Earth Balance, baking powder, soymilk), and threw it into the oven at 400˙F.

Magically Delicious

It came out magical.   Like it was kissed by a unicorn.    I don’t know if I can bring myself to recreate it because waiting a month for bread seems a little excessive.  However, I’m now obsessed with the idea of a sourdough croissant loaf.  If I make a good sourdough starter and use it to make croissant dough, fold it into a layered loaf, give it two or three days to rise in the fridge, and bake that?  Maybe it’ll be just as magical and delicious.

So, my mission is clear.  Now I just need to make my first sourdough starter.   It can be done!  It must be done.  I need more magical bread in my life.

Did you make pierogi?  Were they awesome?  Did you give thanks to the Polish, the potatoes, and Internet?  I know I did.   Bless whoever came up with the idea of wrapping dough around potatoes.  Brilliant.   And bless Al Gore for inventing the Internet so that I might be inspired by the Post Punk Kitchen blog to make my own sweet little potato dumplings.

But, did you get to the last bit of dough and discover that you had too little filling and too much dough?  Were you at a little bit of a loss as to what to do with said dough?  Well, you could really wrap anything in there– fruit, daiya, tofu, seitan, etc.  But, all worn out from crimping my cute little pierogies, I decided to go a different route.   A crimp-free route.  So, I cut the dough into long thin slivers and made… noodles!   Pasta!

Whole wheat pasta

Big fat whole wheat noodles.   Fresh, home-made, whole wheat noodles.

Noodling noodling noodling

Then, I covered my leftover pasta dough with leftover roasted vegetables and tofu.  Squash, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, greens, and tofu– roasted with olive oil, oregano, and basil.

Leftovers fit for a veggie queen.

It’s fun to take leftover bits and scraps and make them into something new, fresh, and delicious.

I love sweet potatoes so much.  It’s an obsession that may border on unhealthy.  Any time I see or hear of a recipe involving boring regular potatoes, I immediately want to re-do it with sweet potatoes.  They’re not only delicious, they also have more fiber, protein, vitamin C, and beta-carotene than the average white potato.   Sounds like some good reasons to eat sweet potatoes to me!   Plus, need I remind you, they’re delicious?

So, when Isa Chandra Moskowitz posted this recipe for pierogies recently, my mission was clear.  Sweet potato pierogies.  Done and done.

Sweet potato pierogies

Wanna take a look inside?

YUM.

This might look like normal potato to you, but don’t be fooled.  It’s golden sweet potato from a market in Santa Cruz… and it’s so good.   Packing all the complexity and sweetness of the average orangey sweet potato, this golden variety is just as good, if not better.  It’s super moist and wonderful, and I find that I can eat it straight out of the oven, without salt or fake butter or anything.  It’s that good.

And of course, since I’m me, I had to make the dough whole wheat.   That’s the way I roll, yo.

And on the side, we have a nice heap of sweet subtle caramelized onions.

Onions onions onions

Good stuff.

I’m sleepy so I’ll get right to the recipe!   I cut down Isa’s recipe by a lot.  I certainly didn’t need to make 3 dozen pierogies for just me and my sister!

Dough:

Filling:

For instructions regarding the dough and the onions,  I suggest referring to the Isa recipe.

As for the potato filling though?   Don’t waste your time peeling and chopping potatoes.  What I do is wrap them in tin foil, stick them in the oven at 450-500, and bake them until they’re soft.  Then I open them up, and the insides literally just slide ride out of the skins.  Use a fork though because it’s HOT hot hot.   Then mash it up and season it.  Bam!   Potato filling.   Simple as pie.   Actually, quite a bit simpler than pie!

I was riding my bike home and stumbled upon a health food store last Saturday.    It was as big as a Whole Foods, and the sign said “Sprouts: Farmer’s Market.”  It looked promising to say the least.  And oh boy, did it live up to that promise.  Whereas Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have aisles and aisles and rows and rows of prepared, boxed, bagged foods, Sprouts was big and open and airy, full of produce, and-to my pleasant surprise- an incredible, large, comprehensive bulk section.  Bins after bins after bins of every sort of grain, bean, nut, dried fruit, or chocolate covered goody that I could possibly want.   I went a little wild in that bulk section.  I bought tiny bags of an absurd amount of fun looking ingredients.  Yes, I’ll have one scoop of this … and one scoop of that… and one scoop of that…   Ah, what  a wonderful world.   Now I have all sorts of fun ingredients and a notion to do a lot of baking!

And that’s how I found myself in possession of a bag of dried tart cherries.  Instantly my brain started racing.   What should I do with them?  What does a girl do with dried cherries anyway?  Granola? Muffins?  Cookies?   Hrmmm… What goes well with cherries?    Duh.    Almonds!  Chocolate?   Yes.  Hrm…. How about some oatmeal, too?   How about…. Almond Cherry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies?   Woah.  I’m a genius!    And I’m calling them Choc-A-Cherry Oatmeal Cookies!  *satisfied pat on the back*

Cookie? Yes, please.

So after some tinkering in the kitchen, I concocted an original recipe for Choc-A-Cherry Oatmeal Cookies, using 100% whole grains.  Whole wheat, whole oats… this cookie was no joke.   Now, just a warning– I threw in some unsweetened baking chocolate (the really expensive Scharffen Berger kind), because I love the stuff.   I love having that kick of dark bitter chocolate, sweetened by the surrounding pillow of golden brown sugary goodness, rounded out by a tart cherry and carried home with chewy oatmeal.

Whole wheat, whole oats, chocolate, cherries, almonds, flax... just so good.

My sister loved them.  She said they were her favorite thing I’ve made so far.   With all the whole grains and the unsweetened chocolate and nuts and cherries and all, I thought this made a really good breakfast cookie.

Breakfast of champions.

However, I also wanted to bring some cookies into work, and I realize not everyone is into super healthy whole wheat cookies.  So I went back into the kitchen and mixed up some slightly naughtier Choc-A-Cherry Oatmeal Cookies, this time using mostly unbleached all purpose flour and a whole cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the unsweetened baking chocolate.

Chewy and beautiful.

Before I give you the recipe, I think we should take a few more looks at the cookies.  Don’t you agree?

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool.

Mmmmmmmm.

Little beauties, all stacked up and ready to go.

I packed them into an old shortening tub to bring to work.  Aren’t I nice?  The whole wheat ones are going into my cookie jar and will be eaten for breakfast and snacks and treats.

One more look:

Love at first sight.

Ok, I’ll give you the recipe now!

Choc-A-Cherry Oatmeal Cookies (Breakfast version)

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance, softened.
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flax meal
• 1/3 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
• 3/4 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate chunks (or more semisweet chocolate)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˙F.
2. Cream together Earth Balance and sugar.  Mix in flax, soymilk, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and oats.   Fold into wet mixture.  The dough will be stiff.  –At this point I ditched my spoon and used my hands to mix it together. — Carefully mix in cherries, almonds, chocolate chips, and chocolate chunks.
4. Roll into balls and press flat on ungreased baking sheet, 2″ apart.   Bake 8-12 minutes.
5. Try not to eat the whole tray.  I mean, seriously guys.   These are really good cookies.   My sister said they’re her favorite thing I’ve made.   Success!

Notes: I started with raw almonds, so I roasted them in the oven as it was preheating.  Then I threw them in food processor and gave it a few pulses.  Don’t process for too long because you don’t want your almonds to become almond meal;  if there are a few whole almonds left in the processor, that’s fine.  Also, you don’t need to go out and buy those silly bags of chocolate chunks. I just coarsely chopped up a couple ounces of my baking bar and threw the resulting chunks into the cookies.

And here is the recipe for the slightly less healthy version:

Choc-A-Cherry Oatmeal Cookies (naughty version)

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance, softened.
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
• 3/4 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

As you can see, they’re not really too different…. but they’re delicious and wonderful and I love them. Follow the same instructions as the other recipe.

I hope you like them as much as I do!