Bariatric Foodie Play with your food
Ok, first I have to give a big, PHAT (with a P) BF congratulations to Christine, the winner of the “Ho-ho-holiday Photo Contest!” She’s won a super cool nutrition label digital scale. Check it out! I have one myself and when the divas and I FINALLY move (read: have a bigger kitchen) I am going to start playing with it more. Heck, you guys might even get a few recipe stats out of that thing!
So…cookies. I’ve explained my cookie rules before. But this Christmas, I wanted some. I’m nearly 4 years post-op and in many ways my eating life has reached its “new normal” (I’ve kicked a lot of things out of my life forever and now find I actually CRAVE the healthier stuff…crazy, right?).
I want Christmas cookies to be part of my new normal but not the way I used to have them. You know the deal. Big batches. LOTS of sugar and fat. And the dreaded white flour!!! No way! Not for me!
So this week I’m going to post a few recipes here of cookies that use absolutely no white flour, including one that includes no flour at all!
And for the folks who ordered the BF Holiday Survival Kit (or attended the live event), early next week I’m going to post two no-white flour cookie recipes (and Lord willing, one other yummy no-flour recipe) that I developed especially for the event (but sadly, did not have enough time to make). Look for the recipes AND downloadable recipe cards by Tuesday. If they aren’t up by then, feel free to nag me shamelessly.
So on to the business of the day. I should first say that with Christmas cookies…I’m not so much into roll-out cookies that are sparkly. I like good, home-baked cookies! This recipe, and all the recipes, are made with WLS-friendly ingredients (but use your best judgment) but here’s the best thing about them: I’ve tweaked the recipes so that each makes only about a dozen cookies! That means a smaller batch and less “residual temptation.” Today’s offering: oatmeal raisin!!!
Nik’s No-flour Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Dry ingredients:
1 c. quick oats, halved
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Wet ingredients:
1/2 stick low calorie baking butter substitute (equivalent of 1/4 c. or 4 tbsp. I used Blue Bonnet Light)
1 egg
1 c. no-calorie sweetener (I used Splenda. If the kind you use doesn’t measure 1:1 with sugar, use the amount your sweetener suggests for a cup of sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Additions:
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional – I didn’t use this time)
Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Place half your oats in a blender or food processor and blend into a flour.
Place in a bowl and combine with your other half cup of oats. Add baking soda, salt and spice and blend. Set aside.
Cream together “butter” and sugar substitute. Add egg and mix until thoroughly combined (with Splenda this is going to look more mealy than creamy. Finally, add vanilla and mix well.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until dough forms. Add your raisins in (and nuts if you’re using them).
Using a spoon (of whatever size you like, but remember, the smaller the spoon, the more cookies you’ll yield) scoop out dough and form a ball. Line your balls up on a sprayed cookie sheet then mash down into a disc with a spoon (like many no-flour cookie recipes, these don’t spread on their own).
Bake for about 8-10 minutes. And here they are!
Yes, my baking sheet is a hot mess. I bake a lot. Let’s focus on the BIGGER picture here.
This recipe yielded exactly 12 cookies with a small spoon, 9 with a larger spoon. I think I like the larger spoon one better. Three for me, three for each diva! YUM!
These look delicious but I can't do oatmeal. I go into carb coma just thinking about oatmeal…lol. I'm really craving my old no bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookies. No way they can be made WLS friendly tho. So my son may make them to give to his older brother and I'll steal one, and take a nap right afterwards…lol.
Loved these! This week I tweeked the recipe a little and made Almond Joy cookies. I used 1/2 cup of oatmeal (blended into flour) and 1/2 cup almond meal… instead of 1 cup of oatmeal. I
skipped the spices. I used 1/2 cup of Splenda and 1/2 cup of brown sugar sweetener. I used coconut extract instead of vanilla. I exchanged the raisins and walnuts for SF chocolate chips and coconut…YUMMY!