Chocolate Almond Craisin Cookies

My husband's been a pretty busy man the past few days, so on Sunday morning we decided to have a cooking date and bake something together. I found a recipe online here for "Whole Grain Breakfast Cookies" and decided to modify it for us. (I don't like cherries in cooking because I think they make food taste like medicine.)



First we took inventory and gathered ingredients.

We pulsed the walnuts in the food processor several times until chopped up and then processed them until fairly well ground. Then we put them in a bowl and added one cup of rolled oats and a half cup of quick oats (because we ran out of the rolled). We added 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour, a teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. We didn't have flax meal but we had flax seeds, so we put 1/2 cup of flax seeds into the Vitamix and turned it on high for a few seconds until the seeds were powdered. We added these to the bowl of dry ingredients, stirred everything up with a wire whisk and set the bowl aside for later.

We didn't have almond butter but we had almonds so we ground up a 1/2 cup of them in a food processor on high and added 1/4 cup canola oil to help it all stick together. After grinding up the almonds, make sure to measure and make sure it still is 1/2 cup of ground almonds.

After grinding up the almonds, we added two tablespoons of honey, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, an egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. We whizzed this a few more seconds in the food processor before using a spatula to scrape everything into a medium sized mixing bowl. At this point we folded in a half cup of Craisins, a half cup of white chocolate chips and a half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The only reason we used different chocolate chips is because we had a small amount of each and needed to use them up.

At this point we poured in the bowl of dry ingredients and stirred everything together. It gets very thick and sticky.

We used parchment paper to cover our 12 x 17 inch baking sheets. I prefer this method because it helps reduce the mess of clean up and protects my cookie sheets from damage. The type of parchment we use is Reynolds Genuine Parchment Paper. The box says it is oven-safe up to 420 degrees, but don't bake on the bottom rack or the edges will blacken and the cookies will have big black spots on their little bottoms. Been there, done that. Unfortunate learning experience. Middle or top rack is the only safe option.

So we covered the cookie sheets and then got our hands wet with water and scooped out a small handful of the cookie dough. Scoop out about two tablespoons of dough. We rolled the dough into little balls and put twelve on each pan. I was a little skeptical about cooking the cookies as little spheres. The oven temperature was right about 375 degrees so we popped them in and set the timer for 8 minutes. I don't recommend starting the timer for any more than that because eight minutes made our top-rack cookies nicely browned and our bottom rack cookies had black bottoms, like I said before. Always start at eight minutes and bake for longer if needed. It's always good to use a second thermometer to measure the oven temperature. I purchased one like this that I hang on an oven rack near the middle of the oven. Compare what the stove says to the thermometer to see if the stove's thermometer is accurate.

Chocolate Almond Craisin Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts

1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (or use quick oats if necessary)

1/2 cup ground flax seeds (pre-ground or do-it-yourself)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup ground almonds or almond butter

1/4 cup canola oil

2 T honey

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Craisins

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line large baking sheets with heat-resistant parchment paper. I use an oven thermometer to check the accuracy of my oven temperature and adjust as needed.

Pulse the walnuts in a food processor several times to chop; continue processing until the walnuts are ground into flour; transfer to a bowl. Add other dry ingredients: Oats, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Grind flax seeds in high speed blender, or use flax meal; add to the dry ingredient mixture and whisk. Set dry mixture aside.

If using whole almonds: Put almonds in food processor and pulse until chopped. Grind on high until almonds are ground up quite small. Add canola oil and continue grinding on high for a couple minutes. Then add honey, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Process for a few seconds longer and transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

To the wet mixture: fold in Craisins and chocolate chips. Add dry mixture and combine with a stiff spoon. Dough will be very thick.

Scoop up handfuls of dough, and form into balls; lay the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Should make about 12 cookies per large baking sheet (12 x 17 inch).

Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and flatten the cookies with a fork. Allow the cookies to cool down for about 5 minutes on the baking sheets before removing to finish cooling on wire racks.