healthy cookies – Busy in Brooklyn

I’m super excited to introduce Sina Mizrahi from The Kosher Spoon today! I’ve been a huge fan of Sina’s since she started her blog (give THESE MUFFINS a try, they’re a family favorite!) because I love that her recipes are healthy, Middle Eastern inspired, and her photography is just. so. beautiful. Sina’s not pretentious about blogging [lets face it, we all know how bloggers can be ;)], she just quietly flies under the radar, doing her thing. She blogs when she has time for it, but I’m always there following her amazing talent – stalking her blog, following her Instagram feed for her Erev Shabbat posts, and reading her columns in Binah Magazine.

When I asked Sina to guest post on my blog, she was more than happy to, even with a move and a baby of her own. I can’t thank her enough! And of course she made my favorite food of all time – COOKIES – and of course they involve almond butter because they’re great for nursing moms – and of course they are healthy and Paleo – because, like I said, this girls is AWESOME. And of course the photography is so simply stunning because THIS GIRL HAS TALENT. Welcome Sina!

I am certain a chocolate chip cookie must be every pregnant lady’s close companion. I know that when I’m expecting I can never turn one down; the craving is strong and the willpower low. Thankfully constant exhaustion keeps my habit at bay, being that baking turns into an afterthought not worth pursuing. I’d rather skip dirty dishes even when the sweet tooth beckons. And in all honesty only a homemade cookie has true merit. But then the sweeter, intoxicating smell of a newborn comes and I crave healthy foods again. With my own baby still being under one, I remember being elated when my friend Rina gushed over these Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. First, she’s a real foodie who can chatter on about pressure cookers and coconut oil, and second they don’t need a mixer and can be made in one bowl (the small bowl for the egg is minimal, k?)

These cookies turned out to be everything I needed come baby. Healthy, pleasantly sweet, and easy. I threw in some ground hazelnuts for a deeper flavor. You might be tempted to envision a Nutella-ish taste because chocolate plus hazelnuts, but they are not at all. The hazelnuts add a depth and nuttiness to the cookie that balances the sugar and chocolate. It’s not something I’d skip. If I were in Brooklyn, this is what I’d bring Chanie, the perfect treat for her and Rosie.

Thanks Chanie for having me on your blog! Follow along the kosher spoon as I’m off on a new adventure I’ll tell you all about soon.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Cookies (Paleo)
adapted from Slim Palate

1 cup creamy raw almond butter*
1 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup roasted hazelnuts, coarsely ground
4oz. dark chocolate, roughly chopped
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Method:

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease lightly. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, mix the almond butter, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and eggs. Fold in the ground hazelnuts and chopped chocolate until well incorporated. If you want plump cookies, refrigerate the dough overnight. If you can hardly wait to take a bite, scoop the mixture with a cookie scoop onto the baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350F. Space the cookies 2 inches apart and gently sprinkle some flaky sea salt. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges brown. Wait until they cool to transfer them with a spatula, otherwise they might fall apart.

* I found it hard to find raw almond butter so I made my own in a high speed blender by processing raw almonds until smooth. A friend makes it with roasted almond butter and she says they turn out amazing.

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I thought I was done with hamantaschen baking this year. My corndog hamantaschen were a huge hit and that was good enough for me! Except every time I bought classic hamantaschen for the kids, my allergic toddler would watch his older siblings enviously and each time I promised myself to make an egg-free version.

I thought about making classic hamantaschen using aquafaba, that slimy juice at the bottom of a can of chickpeas. It’s said to be a great alternative for eggs in vegan baking, and I’ve used it before in muffins. Of course I got busy and my aquafaba-infused hamantaschen experiments went to the wayside.

But then this week, I had a business meeting in my ‘hood, and Chaya brought me a much needed cup of coffee with a side of crunchy thumbprint cookies. The cookies were delicious, so, like any good food blogger, I asked for the recipe. When I heard that the cookies were egg free with few ingredients, I knew I had to whip them up for my son.

I drove home dreaming about the cookies and it hit me – I wanted to make egg-free hamantaschen, so why not make egg-free thumbprint hamantaschen cookies! They had jam anyway, right?

So I got right to work on the 5-ingredient dough, which took less than 5 minutes to make, and I ransacked my fridge for all the jam I could find. I’m kind of a jam hoarder, so I wasn’t surprised to find an assortment of flavors in the back of the fridge, including, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, apricot, fig and plum (told you I was a jam hoarder! my favorite place to buy them is Homegoods!).

Would you check out that beautiful jam filling?

The cookies taste like a crisp granola cookie, only mildly sweet, so I couldn’t help but finish them off with some melted chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better.

The true test was giving these to my son, who is prone to scraping the chocolate off anything and everything, instead of biting into it. I’m always reminding him, “Bite, don’t lick!”, but he always goes back to his chocolate (or cheese!) licking when I’m not looking.

I handed him a hamantasch and he held it in his hand and studied it for a minute or two. I thought he was going to start scraping off the chocolate, but to my surprise, he actually took a bite! He continued to eat his way through, enjoying every morsel. Success!

Purim is just two days away, so we’ll call these “last licks!” (pun intended!). If you’ve been looking for that healthy hamantaschen recipe, you’ve got it. And just in time.

Healthy Thumbprint Hamantaschen

1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup almond flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (see note)
1/2 cup canola oil
pinch of salt
good quality jam
1/2 cup chocolate, melted

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the oats, almond flour, white whole wheat flour and salt. Add the maple syrup and oil and mix to form a dough. Place two tablespoon scoops of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and form into triangles. Using your thumb, make an indent in the center of each cookie. Fill the indentations with jam and bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until browned and crisp. Cool for 10 minutes to allow the cookies to set and transfer to a rack. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

NOTE: These cookies are very mildly sweet. Feel free to adjust sweetness to taste.

VARIATION: I prefer these cookies crunchy, but for slightly softer cookies, bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Busy in Brooklyn

Tag: healthy cookies

Healthy Thumbprint Hamantaschen (Egg Free!)