Chocolate chip cookies made healthier ~ Egg free, butter free chocolate chip cookies.......and an announcement !!

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First let me share my big news. Ever since I made some jewelry for the first time a few years back, I have been hooked onto it.  Before I knew it, making jewelry became a very important part of my life and turned into a passion. Since last year I have been wanting to make this big part of my life even bigger. After months of planning, agonizing over small details and working on so many unexpected angles that were necessary, I've finally made it official.......my jewelry store Anukriti Designs is now online. If you are interested in this kind of thing and would like to take a peek, here is the link to the store. You will also see a small widget in the sidebar that will take you into the store and displays some of the items that are currently in the store. 

The day I went live with the store I decided to celebrate with a sweet treat. I've had this idea in my head for a while to try a healthier version of chocolate chip cookies and this seemed like the perfect occasion to finally try it. I used almond meal (powdered almonds) and coconut oil to make it healthier. I've used almond meal in cookies before and know it works well but this was the first time I've used coconut oil in a cookie. I was a tad worried that I might be able to taste the oil, but I needn't have worried at all. The cookies turned out delicious, crunchy and sweet with just the right amount of chocolate chips..... a perfect treat.  I've already made this a couple more times and it tastes amazing every time. If you are looking for a delicious treat for your family that is secretly healthy too, give this one a try :)

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Ingredients and method to make egg free chocolate chip cookies 

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour ( maida)

1/2 cup almond meal ( powdered almonds / badam) (see notes)

1/3 cup cane sugar 

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

2 Tbsp cold milk (use dairy free milk for a vegan version)

1/3 cup semi sweet choco chips (use dairy free choco chips for a vegan version)

Pre heat oven @ 350 deg F (approx 180 deg C). Line a tray with parchment paper and keep aside. 

Powder almonds using short bursts of power in a spice grinder/ processor/ mixer and measure as needed for the recipe after powdering the almonds. Do not over grind as the nut butter will cause clumping.

In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients ie apf, almond meal, sugar, salt , baking powder and mix well.

Add  melted coconut oil and mix slowly. Add 2 tbsp of cold milk and mix again. Finally add semi sweet choco chips and mix .  Spoon this mixture onto the parchment lined tray making sure to keep at least an inch between each cookie. I usually make each cookie with 1 heaped Tbsp of cookie mixture. Place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lower side is golden brown and the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool. Do not handle these cookies while they are fresh from the oven as it crumbles at that stage, once cool though these cookies are deliciously crunchy and easy to handle. Once cool store in an air tight container and enjoy anytime with a glass of milk or tea/ coffee.

Yielded 12 to 15 medium sized cookies, yield will depend on the size of cookies.

Notes:

To get this amount of almond meal, I just powdered about 1/3 cup of almonds using my spice / chutney attachment in my mixer/ processor. You can also use store bought almond meal for this recipe.

If you have coarse sugar with large crystals like the Indian variety or  turbinado,  powder the sugar before proceeding with the recipe.

If you are looking for other egg free / eggless bakes with chocolate, here are few more,

Oat Banana Brownie ~ Egg Free

Chocolate Cupcake with  Ganache

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bar

2 Min Egg Free Brownie in a mug

Egg Free Avocado Brownies

Low fat Egg Free Black Bean Brownie

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Saffron and cardamom flavored sprouted wheat cookies and DIY sunburst mirror

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Let me begin with the Sunburst mirror first :) Ever since I made this chrysanthemum mirror  I have had mirror fever on my brain and I have been wanting to make a few more. Finally this week I got a chance and conveniently happened to have all the material I needed on hand.  This mirror unlike the first one that I made was really quick to put together and my only issue with it is that the color I used seems a little light, would probably use a darker color next time. Other than that I loved it :) If you want to check out the step by step tutorial for this mirror check out this link



Moving on.... I think I have mentioned earlier that my cousin Sandhya and I regularly exchange health and nutrition tips with each other on our phone chats. During one such conversation she mentioned that she has now gotten hooked on to using sprouted whole wheat flour. Since I am always keen to try new and healthy ingredients this one went right on top of my shopping list and on my very next visit to Whole foods I picked it up.  



Since then I have used sprouted wheat flour in everything from chapathis/ phulkas (Indian flat bread) to pizza base to cookies and enjoyed it in all forms. When comparing sprouted wheat flour and regular wheat flour I do not see any significant difference in taste and texture.  These cookies with saffron, cardamom and pistachios are something I have begun to make regularly  with sprouted wheat flour. You could easily use whole wheat flour in this recipe if you do not want to use sprouted wheat or do not have it on hand. This cookie has a very Indian kind of flavor, it turns out consistently delicious and is a perfect quick treat to go with a cup of chai :)




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Ingredients and Method to make Sprouted wheat cookies
3/4 cup sprouted wheat flour (can be substituted with regular whole wheat flour/atta)
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
3/4 tsp baking powder
5 green cardamom seeds powdered fine (elaichi/ elakkai)
1 1/2 tbsp finely cut pistachios (optional) (see notes)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup clarified butter (ghee/nei)
2 tsp milk + 2 generous pinches saffron
1/2 cup cold whole milk

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F. Line a tray with parchment paper and keep aside.

In a small bowl assemble the wheat flour, apf, baking powder, cardamom seed powder and pistachios and mix well.

Warm 2 tsp milk slightly and add 2 generous pinches of saffron to it  and keep aside for a few minutes

Cream clarified butter + sugar until it comes together. Add the flour mixture to it and mix well.

Add cold milk a little at a time and mix well. Finally add the saffron + milk and mix well.

Pinch a little dough, roll and flatten and place in the pre lined tray about an inch apart. Score with the tines of a fork if you wish.
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Place tray in the oven and bake for approx 15 to 20 minutes or until the cookies turn a creamy brown.

Remove and cool, store in an airtight container and enjoy :)

Notes:
Pistachios are optional, I have made these cookies both with and without the pistachios and these cookies taste awesome either way :)

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Chewy Orange flavored Almond cashew cookies and a quick DIY cake stand :)

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Being a food blogger means that the kitchen section of any store is always appealing. I always end up spending quite a bit of time looking through different gadgets and dishes that I can use in my kitchen and as props in my pictures :) On one such trip a pretty cake stand caught my attention, I was very keen to buy it. But I balked a little when I saw the price tag. Buying a pricey cake stand when I hardly ever bake cakes just seemed a little over the top for me :)

Sometime later when I was browsing pinterest I came across a super simple diy cake stand made with a candle stand and a plate that I loved. I didn't pin the tip so I do not have the link for it, but the idea stayed with me. The one that I saw was spray painted , but when I decided to make it, I just bought a glass candle stand and a large glass plate and put it together with my glue gun and skipped the paint entirely. Here's how it looks...............

 

I am glad I hadn't purchased the one I saw in the store, this one worked out so much better for me:) Now the only thing I need to do is to bake more cakes so that I get to use this stand frequently :) Will keep you all posted on whether I really do end up baking more cakes:)

In the meanwhile here are some orange flavored almond cashew cookies that I bake when I am completely out of any kind of snacks. This one is super simple, does not use any butter and is really fast to make. I use almonds and cashews in it to amp up the nutrition slightly.It does not require any special ingredients just the usual stuff I keep around the home, so it is easy to put together.  



In addition I just love any bakes with orange flavor in them. So these cookies are my go to cookies not only because these cookies can be whipped up really fast at short notice, or its simplicity, but also because of its flavor and taste :) 



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Ingredients and Method to make Chewy Orange flavored almond cashew cookie
1/3 cup cashew nut powder
1/3 cup almond meal (powdered almonds with skin)
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp orange extract

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix together cashew nut powder, almond meal, all purpose flour, baking powder and sugar and mix well.

Add yogurt and mix into the flour mixture.

Add oil  + orange extract and mix well into the cookie mixture.

Spoon a little of the mixture onto the pre lined tray about an inch apart.
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Place in the oven and bake about 15 to 20 minutes or until the edges of the cookie begin to get a golden brown. Remove, let sit for a few minutes, then remove from tray and cool thoroughly. Store in an airtight container and enjoy as an anytime snack.

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Vegan Chewy Orange Oatmeal Cookies

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Before going on to the post, have you seen this clip?  I just saw this on my local news, this 7 year old boy tosses the pizza dough amazingly well. It was so fascinating to watch how he deftly manages to toss the dough without dropping it even once. It's a real fun watch, so if you have a couple of minutes do hop on over to the clip and take a peek

Moving on, ever since I started to make this ginger orange salad dressing, the pulp I get after straining out the juice is leftover. And since I do not like to throw it away, I  had to think up of ways to use up the leftover pulp. Since we love orange flavored bakes very much, whether it is cookies, oatmeal bars, muffins, breads or cakes, the first thing that came to mind when I was wondering what to do with the leftover pulp was to use them in some kind of bakes. This time I decided to make cookies with it. This is one of the simplest cookies I have made, with a minimum of  ingredients and yet it tasted delicious. So if you like orange flavored bakes too, whip up a batch of these and enjoy them :)


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Ingredients and Method to make Orange Oatmeal Cookies
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (according to taste)

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup strained orange pulp (see notes)
1 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ali virai)  + 6 tbsp water
2 tbsp oil

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

In a large bowl assemble all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Whisk flax seed meal and water together for a few seconds until it turns gelatinous and keep aside.

Add the pulp, flax seed meal +water mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and mix together.
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Finally add orange extract and mix again. Spoon mixture onto the pre lined cookie sheet about  a couple of inches apart and place in oven.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container. Tastes best within a few days of baking :)

Yielded approximately 18 to 20 medium sized cookie.

Notes:
For the pulp, I pureed 2 cara cara oranges and strained out the juice which I used to make this salad dressing. I got 1/2  a cup of strained orange pulp which I used entirely in these cookies.

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Egg free Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and a question :)

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Recently when I was at the grocery store, I noticed rutabagas on sale. Now I have never tried rutabagas at all, but I have to admit that I am curious about this vegetable and how it can be used.  Wiki explains that rutabagas are actually a kind of turnip. In fact rutabagas are also known as Swedish turnips and are said to be rich in fiber, potassium and vitamin C. So here's my question for my readers, have any of you used rutabagas? If yes, I would love to hear how you use this veggie and how much you like it, so do share your experience with this veggie:-)

Moving on, another thing that recently caught my eye was oatmeal raisin cookies in the bakery section of my grocery store. I resisted the temptation to buy it at the time, but I came home and kept thinking about it. Since I haven't baked any cookies in a long time, I gave in and decided to whip up a batch. I referred to this recipe, but I changed things up a bit from the original recipe. I halved the quantity of butter, used flax seed meal as a substitute for eggs, used more raisins and used white sugar instead of brown. The result was a delicious, crisp cookie that was difficult to resist.



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Ingredients and Method to make Egg free Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar 
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ali virai)  + 6 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup dark raisins

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a cookie sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside
Whisk together flax seed meal and water until it is gelatinous. Keep aside for at least 5 mins.
In a large bowl, add rolled oats, all purpose flour, salt , ground cinnamon, baking soda and mix well. Keep aside.
Cream together butter and sugar, I used an electric hand mixer for this. Add the whisked flax seed meal mixture and mix well.

Add the flour + oatmeal mixture in small quantities and mix well. Add oil and mix well. Finally add the vanilla extract and raisins and mix well.
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Spoon mixture about two inches apart on the lined tray. Place in oven and bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until light creamy golden on top (see notes)

Yielded approximately 20 medium sized cookies.

Notes:
I like my cookies crisp so I had them bake almost 17 minutes to get the right crispness. In case you like a softer and chewier cookie you may want to remove it a little earlier.

This recipe is off to the Kids Delight event hosted by Priya this month and originally started by Srivalli

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Vegan Carrot Raisin Cookie

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As I mentioned yesterday, every time I make carrot juice, I save the carrot pulp and use it in other cooking, usually something like this carrot roti. When I was planning to bake cookies, I wondered what would happen if I used the carrot pulp in cookies. I was curious to see if the carrot pulp, like fruit puree would work as an egg substitute in the cookie too. Since there is no better way to find out than to try it, that is just what I did.......

These cookies turned out crunchy and delicious and it reminded me of carrot raisin bread in taste.Surprisingly carrot pulp really did seem to work well as a egg substitute, at least in this cookie. I was worried that the cookies would crumble, because I have not added any other binding ingredient. But carrot pulp did the trick and the cookies turned out to be quite a success in our home. I am looking forward to making these again, in fact I think I might just whip up another batch today :-)




Here is another view of this cookie so you can see the texture of it.......



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Ingredients and Method to make Carrot Raisin Cookie
Dry Ingredients
1 cup fine semolina (or semolina flour) (fine rava/ sooji)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dry roasted mung flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup packed raisins
1/4 cup packed brown sugar + 3 tsp brown sugar (or any other sugar)

Wet Ingredients
heaped 1/2 cup strained carrot pulp
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oil

Pre heat oven at 375 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside.

In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

In a small bowl, mix the carrot pulp + oil well and add to the dry ingredients and gently mix it.

Pinch small amount of cookie dough between your fingers, gently roll and flatten it. Place it on the lined cookie sheet about an inch apart.

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Continue this until all the cookie dough is used.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the lower side is a brown and tops are light golden brown.

Remove, cool thoroughly on wire rack and store in an air tight container.

Yielded 24 medium sized cookies

Notes:
If you do not want to use mung flour you can substitute it with whole wheat flour or all purpose flour (maida)
If you would like to have a more pronounced cinnamon flavor you can increase the quantity of cinnamon to 1 tsp, with the quantities I used, the flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg were very mild.

These cookies are off to the The weekly bake-off event being hosted by Champa

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Vegan Indian style Banana Raisin cookie version 2.0

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As I mentioned yesterday I have begun to experiment with using more lentil flours like mung flour and chick pea flour (besan) in baking. The first try with small amount of mung flour worked well but the quantity of mung flour in proportion to the other flours in the recipe was kind of small.

The second time I made the cookie, I increased the quantity of mung flour and also added chick pea flour (besan) in the recipe. When I tasted the cookie dough I got the feeling that the taste of chick pea flour was a little pronounced and I was worried that even after baking, that taste would overwhelm the other flavors. But after it baked the taste of the cookie was just fine, the slightly nutty taste of besan blended well with the cookie flavors and did not stand out very much.

This cookie was soft and chewy in the center and a little crisp around the edges. It reminded me a little of nan khatai in both texture and appearance, only softer because of the presence of banana in it.




Here is another view of this cookie....



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Ingredients and Method to make the variation of Banana Raisin cookie
1/2 cup dry roasted chick pea flour (besan) ( I used the microwave to do this)(just spread the flour on a microwave safe plate and place in m/w and heat on high for 45 secs to 1 minute until it exudes an aroma)
1/2 cup mung dhal flour dry roasted
1 cup fine semolina (or semolina flour) (fine rava/ suji)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar+ 2 tbsp brown sugar (can be substituted with regular sugar)
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 large banana mashed
1/4 cup oil

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F, line a cookie tray/ sheet with foil or parchment paper and keep aside

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients except mashed banana and oil and mix well.

Add mashed banana and oil and mix well until the dough comes together and resembles cookie dough.

Pinch a little dough between your fingers, roll and gently flatten and place on the lined cookie sheet.

Proceed with the rest of the dough making sure to place them at least an inch apart on the cookie sheet

Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake between 12 to 14 minutes (it took me 12 minutes) until the cookie is golden brown and the lower side is darker brown.
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Remove and cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Tastes best fresh or within a day or two.

Yielded about 20 medium sized cookies

Notes
These cookies were mildly sweet, that is how we enjoy them. In case you like your cookies to have a more pronounced sweetness then increase the sugar by another 1/4 cup

These cookies like the previous version are off to the weekly Bake off event being hosted by Champa

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Banana Raisin Wheat Cookie

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The idea of having overripe bananas at hand which I can use in different types of snacks is so appealing, that these days I reach for all the other fruits in my fruit bowl and purposely let the bananas ripen. I have used ripe bananas in everything from this fudge to banana oatmeal cookies to a few different versions of banana bread and enjoyed each one of them very much.

This time I decided to make Indian style cookies with bananas.  In this cookie I used some semolina (suji) to give it a more nan khatai style taste and also gave this cookie a very Indian flavor by using cardamom in it.

The cookies tasted very good, were a little soft and chewy and the sweetness was on the milder side which is how I like my cookies to taste. Since we liked this version so much, I made a variation of this cookie within a few days, using a combination of mung flour and chick pea flour, I will post that version tomorrow.





Here is another view of the cookie....




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Ingredients and Method to make Banana Raisin cookie
Dry Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 cup semolina flour (fine rava/sooji)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or any other sugar) (see notes)
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup dark raisins (optional)
4 cardamom seed powder (elaichi powder)
1 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients
1 large banana mashed = 1/2 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup oil
1- 2 Tbsp milk (only if required) (see notes)

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and keep aside

In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

In a smaller bowl mix the mashed banana and oil and whisk it well together.

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Pour the wet ingredients on the dry ingredients and mix well. Add a few tbsp of water/ milk if required to achieve cookie dough consistency.

Pinch a little of the dough between your fingers, roll,gently flatten and place on the lined cookie sheet.Proceed with the rest of the dough making sure that the cookies are place at least an inch apart

Place cookie sheet/ tray in the oven and bake for 15 to 17 minutes until it looks golden brown and lower side begins to brown.

Remove and cool thoroughly on wire rack and place in an air tight container.

Tastes best fresh or within a couple of days.

Yielded approximately 24 slightly smaller than medium size cookies

Notes


If you have a large banana, just the banana+ oil will be enough to get a cookie dough consistency. If it falls a little short, add a few tablespoons of  milk to get the right consistency. Sometimes I have needed 1 to 2 Tbsp sometimes I don't need any depending on the size of my banana. Use non diary milk for a vegan version.

If you like your cookies very sweet then you may want to increase the quantity of sugar to 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup.

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Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Does the thought of home baked chocolate chip cookies send you into extreme longing to taste and keep tasting those cookies ? Do you feel that just the sight of cookies can threaten your resolve to stay on your diet and make you binge on some sweets? If yes, then quickly look away and scroll to the lower part of the page where you feel find many healthy dishes that will not threaten your resolve to stay on your diet. I know how hard it is to stay on a diet so I did not want to provide my readers who are working hard to stay on a diet, reason to stray from that diet :-)

On the other hand if you are looking for a treat as an occasional indulgence than you have come to the right post :-) These chocolate chip cookies were just that for me too, a rare indulgence that I gave into, in lieu of the festival season. Of course knowing I would be sharing these cookies with others provided me with some comfort that we alone would not be indulging in so many cookies.

Surprisingly I found the recipe for this cookie on the back of Nestle's milk chocolate morsel packet that I bought to make these cookies. I never before looked at the back of packets to see if they printed recipes, luckily this time I noticed it and it saved me the time to search for a recipe. I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used flax seed as a substitute for eggs, used regular sugar + molasses in place of the brown sugar required in the original recipe and reduced the quantity of chocolate morsels just a tad bit. The verdict.....these cookies are among the best that I have ever tasted, they were crunchy , delicious and hard to resist. If your sweet tooth has been ignored for a while try these and indulge a little.....


Here is another view of these cookies....


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Ingredients and Method to make Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) (softened to room temperature)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp molasses (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi) + 6 tbsp water

1 1/4 cup milk chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 375 deg F

Line a cookie sheet or tray with parchment paper and keep aside

In a bowl mix together all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and keep aside.

In another bowl cream together sugar, molasses (if you are using it) and butter until creamy and airy. ( I used my electric hand mixer for this and it took me just few minutes to get the right texture )

Whisk together water and flax seed meal until it becomes gelatinous. Pour this mixture along with vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar and mix well (or use the electric mixer to mix it in)

Add all purpose flour that has been kept aside to the creamed butter + sugar mixture in small increments and it in before adding some more.

Finally add the chocolate chip morsels and mix it in too.

Using a small tbsp sized round scoop place cookie dough an inch apart on the tray. Place the tray in the oven and bake between 9 to 11 minutes or until the cookies are beginning to brown on the sides and the bottom.

Remove and let cool on the tray for 2 minutes and then place on wire rack to cool completely.

Store in air tight container after thoroughly cool.

Yielded 72 cookies

Notes

The yield and baking times of the cookies will depend on the size of the cookies.

The original recipe called for some white sugar and some dark brown sugar, I replaced the quantity of brown sugar with white sugar and added a little molasses instead for some color and flavor. If you want you can use half white and half brown sugar instead or all white too.

The original recipe called for two eggs which I replaced with the above mentioned flax+water

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Vegan Quinoa Spicy Cookies

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The kitchen can be a such a source of conflict isn't it ? No, No............ I do not mean the type of conflict that some of you are thinking about, I just mean that it can evoke such conflicting emotions:-) .....at least for me, the kitchen definitely evokes conflicting emotions. On some days I just cannot wait to be done with my work there and get out of that place. On the other hand there are days when the kitchen proves to be my solace, it helps to soothe me and helps to re-focus my attention. On stressful days, if I start creating something new and unique, somehow just the act of creating something new itself makes me happy and helps me get over some of my stress.

Recently, on one such occasion when I was having a particularly bad day and was feeling thoroughly restless, I decided to make these quinoa spicy cookies. Ever since I used quinoa in crepes (dosas) I have been thinking that their lightly nutty flavor would work very well in a savory style slightly spicy cookie, so when my bad day brought me into the kitchen I decided that trying spicy cookies with quinoa in them was just what I needed to de- stress :-)

And it worked...... on both fronts, I felt a little better after making the cookies and felt a lot better once I tasted them :-) The nutty taste of quinoa was a perfect match to the slight spiciness imparted by the green chillies and these awesome melt in your mouth cookies were one the best spicy cookies I have ever tasted.

Here is another view of this cookie......

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Ingredients and Method to make Vegan Quinoa Spicy Cookies

3/4 cup quinoa flour (see notes)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida) (see notes)

1/2 cup almond meal (see notes)

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or according to taste) (optional)

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder (or any other baking powder)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp dried curry leaves crushed into small bits ( alternatively use about 7 to 8 fresh curry leaves torn into small pieces) (optional)

3 Thai or Indian variety green chillies (cut very fine) (or according to taste)

1/2 cup almond butter

10 tbsp oil (you may not need so much see below)

1 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds also known as Alsi in India) + 3 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside

In a bowl add all the dry ingredients ( items 1 through 10) and mix well.

Whisk together flax seed meal + 3 tbsp of water well and keep aside.

In another bowl, add almond butter and this flax seed + water mixture and whisk together gently until mixed well.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Add the oil last and add it spoon by spoon, mixing the dough continuously. Once in between ( after about 5 tbsp of oil) take a little of the mixture and place on your palm and make a fist, if the dough sticks together means it is pretty much ready, you do not need more oil. This will also depend on the type of almond butter or if you use some other type of butter since the moisture from other butters could be different and a bit more. ( Also some types of store bought butters have some oil in them so that could change the requirement of oil too)
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Roll the dough into small lime sized balls and place about an inch apart on the lined tray.

Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 mins until the cookies are slightly brown.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

Yielded about 22 to 23 cookies

Notes

For the quinoa flour I dry roasted quinoa until it emitted a slight fragrance, then I cooled and powdered it as fine as was possible in my spice grinder ( In case you find quinoa flour at your local store you could try using that too )

I used all purpose flour since I ran out of spelt flour, if you want you can use spelt flour in place of ap flour

Almond meal means powdered almonds, I used my spice grinder to make this. If you want to make this flour, then powder about 1/4 cup of raw almonds in your spice grinder or blender until it turns into a fine powder .Use short bursts of power and make sure not to over grind since the nut butter will cause clumping. You can easily find almond meal in most stores

The cookies were a little crumbly when they were first out of the oven but when they cooled they firmed up. So handle them with care when hot out of the oven.

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Low fat Cranberry cookie

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This recipe for low fat cranberry cookie is entirely my own creation.The trepidation that I felt as I initially mixed in the flour and all the other ingredients was replaced by joy when the cookies turned out perfect.These cookies are quick and simple to make and turned out to be very tasty and chewy,a good substitute for store bought cookies or traditional ones that tend to have more calories in them.
These cookies have no butter or eggs, just some plain yogurt and a little oil. Yet the eggs and butter are not missed at all.Since the first time I whipped up a batch of these, I have made them a few more times. They are a perfect tea time or any time snack.

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Ingredients and method to make the cranberry cookie
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup Whole wheat flour (Atta/godumai maavu)
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries  ( I use craisins)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup fine sugar
3/4 cup plain yogurt (curds/dahi)
1/4 cup oil
3/4 tsp vanilla extract/ essence

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F.Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl add the all purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, dried cranberries and mix well.
Whisk the yogurt and add to the the mixture in the bowl, then add oil and mix gently.Finally add vanilla extract, mix well.
Spoon a little on the cookie sheet about an inch apart and bake for about twenty minutes or until golden brown
Remove and cool on a wire rack and store in a airtight container.
Yields about 20 medium sized cookies

Suggested Variation :
Use 1 tsp orange extract instead of vanilla extract for a different flavor.


Now after this sweet indulgence one sweet point.Last week Sowmya of Creative Saga gave me the Blogging with a purpose Award,Thanks a lot for the same Sowmya



I would in turn like to pass this award to

Sunita
Mythreyee
Diksha
Karuna
Jaishree

Enjoy your award !

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