Thursday, March 1, 2012

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies Calm Your Sugar Craving!

Have you been wondering what happened to Food Snob?  Well, she is trying to recover from the news, just in time for Valentine's Day, that sugar is so addictive that the government is considering whether it should be regulated.  This news, untimely as it was, hit a hot button for her.  How sad that our restaurants, bakeries, and food manufacturers have capitalized on the "high" we get from eating sweets by loading our foods with unnecessary sugar and other unhealthy substances (think high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats) to keep us coming back for more.  We have been told that the U.S. now faces an obesity epidemic and sugar, which we once ate in moderation, is now so prevalent in food that some folks believe sugar should be a controlled substance!

Food Snob, along with many other people smarter than she is, thinks we can change our sugar addiction by changing the way we think about sugar and its role in our diet.  First of all, sugar (dessert) is a treat!  Since it is a treat, desserts should be served in small portions, savored (eat it slowly!), be homemade and fabulously delicious, be eaten after a meal, and eaten, if you wish, every day.  After all, we all deserve treats every day, right?  We might not gorge ourselves on that huge, average-tasting cookie from the average bakery if we know that we have an incredibly delicious, homemade cookie in our lunchbox that we can have, after we eat our lunch, instead.

Desserts, even when made as healthy as possible, are loaded with calories and fat.  If you are going to spend part of your daily calorie allotment on anything with sugar in it, it had better be worth it!  An average piece of candy, a store-bought cookie, a cake from a bakery--these are not worth it!  You don't even know what is in them!  If you make them yourself, you know what is in them and you know they are delicious.  Homemade desserts, made with care and concern about what is in them, are WORTH IT!

Come to Food Snob's house on any day and she will likely have a homemade dessert (cookie, brownie, cake) in her refrigerator or freezer.  Ask her kids - they know where to look in the freezer to find the homemade cookies.  Visit Food Snob's mom, and you are likely to go home with three or four types of homemade cookies and piece of cake or pie, all made without trans fat or extra sugar. There is always more than one type of cookie at HER house.

Have you ever purchased "slice and bake cookies?"  Food Snob confesses she has NEVER purchased slice and bake cookies and she refuses to make any cakes or brownies from a purchased mix.  It is far too easy to make better cookies and other baked goods yourself, in very little time.  Here are the basic secrets for baking great cookies, brownies, and cakes with less sugar, no trans fats, more whole grains, and fewer calories:

Sugar - Reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by one-fourth to one-third (25 to 33 percent) EVERY SINGLE TIME.  There is ALWAYS too much sugar in every cookie, cake, or brownie recipe.   You won't even notice the difference; in fact, the dessert will taste better because it won't be tooth-achingly sweet!

Butter - Replace the butter with half canola oil and half trans fat free/heart healthy spread suitable for baking, such as Smart Balance.  Now, I'll be honest, nothing beats baking with butter.  However, baking with butter is not worth the saturated fat.  Substituting butter with canola oil and heart healthy spread sacrifices minimally on the taste.  If you must use butter, use only a tablespoon or two for flavor and substitute one-half canola oil, one-half heart healthy spread for the remainder.  Save the all-butter baking for a special occasion and share it with lots of other people so you only eat one piece!

Flour - Buy a bag of whole wheat pastry flour (available at a reasonable price at Vitamin Cottage) and use it for one-half or more of the flour required in the recipe.  Whole wheat pastry flour boosts the fiber in the recipe and the results are delicious.

Leavening - Now, leavening may not have much to do with reducing sugar or fat, but it has a lot to do with successful baking at high altitude.  Generally, I have found that my cookies do not spread and my cake does not fall if I reduce the amount of baking powder and baking soda in the recipe by 25 percent.  Try this - and let me know if works for you!

One of Food Snob's most requested recipes is her Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, below.  This recipe contains whole grains and no trans fat.  I have never had a better-tasting, more delicious chocolate chip cookie.  You will need a food processor or a blender, in addition to a mixer, to make these cookies.  If you make them about 2 inches big (and why would you make them bigger if you plan to eat one after lunch and one after dinner?) the recipe makes about 9 dozen cookies.  Compare the nutrition results of Food Snob's chocolate chip cookies to the traditional Toll House Cookie recipe.  Food Snob's Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies have 85 calories and less than 2 grams of saturated fat each; Toll House Cookies have 107 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat each.  And, Food Snob's cookies taste better!

Bittersweet (Dark) Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 9 dozen two-inch cookies)



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Arrange two oven racks so that one is at the bottom one-third of the oven and the other is at the top one-third of the oven.  In a glass, microwavable measuring cup (a two cup measuring cup works great) measure out:

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup trans fat free spread for baking, such as Smart Balance

(NOTE:  It is easier to measure the spread if you put the oil in the measuring cup first, and then spoon in the trans fat free spread until the oil rises up to the 1 cup line.)

Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on about 50 percent power until melted.  Pour the oil mixture into a large mixing bowl and add:

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar


Cream mixture with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add:

2 organic, high omega eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
2 T low fat buttermilk


Continue mixing until ingredients are incorporated and mixture is smooth and light.  Add:

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking power (use 1 teaspoon if you are at sea level)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda (use 1 teaspoon if you are at sea level)


Meanwhile, in your food processor, measure out:

 2 and 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal

Process until it is a fine powder.  Add the oatmeal to the cookie batter, but don't rinse out the food processor.  Now measure into the food processor:


1/2 cup milk chocolate chips


Process until fine; add to cookie batter.  Don't rinse out the food processor yet - you will need it to chop the walnuts in a minute.  Also add to the cookie batter:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached flour

Mix ingredients well with the electric mixer.  Now fold into the batter:

3 and 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli's 60 percent bittersweet chocolate chips)
1 and 1/2 cups walnuts (chop these in the food processor, using the pulse button)

Mix well with a wooden spoon.  Coat four cookie sheets with cooking spray.  Drop cookies onto the first cookie sheet by rounded teaspoonful, leaving at least 2 inches between cookies.  Bake on lowest oven rack for 4 minutes.  While the first cookie sheet is baking, fill up the next cookie sheet.

When the first cookie sheet is done, transfer it to the top rack in the oven and put the second cookie sheet on the bottom rack.  Bake for another 4 minutes, until set but still light in color and just brown around the edges.  While baking, fill up the third cookie sheet.

Remove the first cookie sheet from the oven and allow it to cool for 4 minutes (don't remove the cookies yet).  Meanwhile, move the second cookie sheet to the top rack and put the third cookie sheet on the bottom rack and bake for four minutes.  Fill up the fourth cookie sheet with cookies.

When the second cookie sheet is done, remove from the oven, and allow cookies to cool.  Transfer the third cookie sheet to the top rack and put the fourth cookie sheet on the bottom rack, bake for four minutes.  While these cookies are baking, carefully remove the cookies from the first cookie sheet with a metal spatula and allow them to cool completely on paper towels.  The first cookie sheet is now ready to fill again.

Continue filling, transferring, cooling, and removing cookies from each rack, as before, allowing 4 minutes of baking time on each rack (for 8 minutes total) and 4 minutes of cooling time before removing from cookie sheets to paper towels.  When all cookies have baked and cooled completely, the cookies are ready to be packaged and frozen.  When wrapped tightly and frozen, these cookies keep well for about 4 to 6 weeks (if they last that long!).

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