First let me say that these peanut butter cookies I made the other day are pretty darn good. I know, I did say that they weren't mind blowing, but these are tasty. Especially if you drizzle chocolate on them. :) And another tip, keep them refrigerated. Their texture is very similar to shortbread but with a distinct peanutty flavor. I'm in love now.
So I've been following this blog, 101 Cookbooks, for a while but I have never really made anything from it - until my recent revelation with the "white stuff". This blogger, Heidi Swanson, is one smart and talented cookie. She focuses on whole foods and ingredients - vegetarian recipes that are good for you!!! So all you carnivores, fugetaboutit.....
Heidi's writing and photography make whole foods sound and look even more amazing for you!!! These animal cookie crackers are just that....amazingly good! They'll bring out the healthy kid inside of you!!!
Animal Cracker Cookies
snagged from 101 Cookbooks
Some notes from the author from the original blog post:
The kind of coconut oil you purchase is key. You want it to actually smell like coconut. You want pure, unrefined coconut oil - it will likely have the words virgin or extra-virgin and (hopefully) organic on the jar. If you see the word "refined" on the jar, find a different brand. I've just finished off a jar of Nutiva, and really enjoyed cooking with it - but there are other great brands out there as well. You can make your own walnut (or almond) meal by pulsing the nuts in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with some kind of nut butter. For added depth feel free to use toasted shredded coconut.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup walnut or almond meal ***I used almond meal****
1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut, very finely minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin coconut oil, softened ***The coconut oil I used really was like "oil". I didn't need to soften it***
1/3 cup fine-grain natural cane sugar ***I used my whole organic cane sugar***
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
a few tablespoons big-grain turbinado sugar
Whisk flour, walnut/almond meal and shredded coconut together in a small bowl. ***I didn't do this. Instead, after pulsing my almonds in the food processor to make almond meal, I simply dumped the flour and shredded coconut into the bowl and gave it a few pulses to combine*** In a separate medium bowl, beat the coconut oil with the sugar and salt until it's smooth and looks like a brown sugar frosting. ***Mine did not look like brown sugar frosting. The sugar granules didn't start to dissolve until I added the egg*** Beat in the egg until everything is uniform in appearance, Add the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Turn the dough out onto the counter-top, knead it once or twice and gather it into a ball. Cut the dough in half, flatten each piece, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Place the racks in the middle and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. On a floured work surface roll the dough out 1/8-inch thick. If the dough cracks, let it sit and warm up for a couple more minutes. Stamp out shapes with floured cookie cutters and place the cookies an inch apart on the baking sheets, sprinkle with a bit of the turbinado sugar, Bake until the cookies are just beginning to color at the edges 7 - 8 minutes. remove from the oven and cool the cookies on racks.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
These little bundles of animal cracker cookies would make a GREAT party favor for a kid's birthday or baby shower!!! They're made entirely of whole organic goodness and even packaged in a eco-friendly bags.
No comments:
Post a Comment