Basic Cookies and variations

makes about 60 cookies depending on the thickness/size you make them.
about 6 cookies comes it at a bit less than 5 ECC ( effective carb count)

I found cookies to be the most difficult recipe to get right. I tried so many different recipes and tweaks of recipes, --and many recipes that got raves from others across the web, but they never really "did it" for me. Either they were far too fragile, or too rich. Had no crunch or ...well...something not right --until I tried cooking my muffin dough as a cookie, and voila!!! With a few more tweaks I am now very satisfied with these. And, with small variations, many different cookies can be created!

Please refer to "Know Your Ingredients" for an explanation of any ingredients you might have questions about.



1 1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup oat flour, (or rice flour for gluten free)
1/4 cup whey protein powder
1/4 cup powdered egg whites
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup xylitol or erythritol
(1/4 cup poly dextrose fiber optional-adds crunch)
2 T xanthan gum ( essential)

1 eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup butter (One stick) melted
1/4 tsp liquid sucralose based sweetener or 24 packets of splenda or the equivalent in the sweetener of you choice
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients together in large bowl. Mix eggs, liquid sweetener and yogurt in a second bowl and whisk well. Add to dry ingredients and then add butter. mix well. dough is thick so you have to work at getting the dry ingredients well in corporated. Use your hands and knead it a little if you want.

allow dough to rest for a few minutes to get good and thick. or cover and chill for several hours.

Roll teaspoons of dough into walnut sized balls or smaller--dime sized if you like, and place on a parchment covered baking sheet, then flatten the balls with a flat bottomed glass. (I put a plastic bag over the glass to keep it from sticking to the dough)I like these to be as thin as I can get them, as they do puff up some in the oven, but you can leave them thicker, or even leave them as un-flattened balls for a different texture and look. ( see variations)

If you chill the dough well, it can be rolled with a rolling pin and cut out with cookie cutters. use a pastry cloth and either almond flour or oat flour (or rice flour)to keep it from sticking.

Sprinkle with colored sugar, or sprinkles for a festive look. In my opinion it doesn't add enough carb to be of any significance. (or use xylitol if you are totally against sugar of any kind)

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until they begin to brown around the edges.

cool on wire cooling rack. The longer you let these set out in the air, the crisper they become--even as long as overnight. they don't become stale like a flour based cookie does.

Once they are finished and frosted, I keep them in the freezer, and eat them frozen. They have a good crunch that way and plus don't spoil forever.

My favorite way to finish these is to frost them with a chocolate ganache. They taste reminiscent of chocolate covered graham crackers to me.

Simple Chocolate Frosting

4 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate; Chocoperfection sugar free preferred
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
dash vanilla ( optional)
2-3 drops of Liquid sucralose sweetener (optional)

pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. add the vanilla, and sweetener if desired. you can also add a dash of rum, instant coffee crystals, or other flavorings--such as raspberry or orange or mint. 1/4 tsp or less is sufficient for this amount of frosting

If the initial 30 seconds doesn't soften the chocolate sufficiently, microwave in 15 second bursts.

you can also simply heat the cream in a saucepan on the stove and then pour it over the chocolate to melt it.

A nice variation of this is to use white chocolate in place of regular chocolate. sugar free white chocolate is available a netrition.com. It is maltitol sweetened. but the small amount uesed is generally okay. (a cocoa butter based frosting recipe sweetened with xylitol is in the works but still not as good as it needs to be. watch this space!)

Variations:

Almond Holiday: Our family's tradition Christmas cookie has a distinct almond flavor. I can make a decent approximation of the flavor By adding 1/2 teaspoon of almond to the basic recipe, rolling them out with a rolling pin and then frosting with the white chocolate frosting. It's a very nice flavored cookie--and satisfies the need for me to have that specific flavor at the holidays.

Chocolate Chip: add 1/4 tsp molasses to the melted butter and use 1 tsp maple flavoring in place of one of the tsp of vanilla. Add 3 bars chocoperfection chocolate, chopped coarsely. Flatten the balls only slightly. You may need to bake longer than 12 minutes.

Gingerbread: add:
*1 tsp molasses to melted butter.
*1 tablespoon Caffix or Pero to dry ingredients
*2 tsp cinnamon
*1 tsp ginger
*1/4 tsp cloves
( or any combination of spices that you like)
roll into balls and flatten for gingersnaps or roll out and cut for gingerbread men.

Jam Tarts--these are extra yummy!
add 1/2 tsp almond extract in place of 1 tsp vanilla if desired
roll original recipe very thin with rolling pin and cut out circles with 2 inch cookie cutter. Cut a smaller circle out of the center of half of the circles. ( fondant cutters work well for this if you can find them) spread the circles with sugar free raspberry ( or strwberry )jam and top with a cut out circle. These are great for valentines day if you use heart shaped cutters.

I have homemade raspberry jam, but commercial works just fine. You may want to boil it for a minute to thicken it. Or make a puree from fresh or frozen raspberries, sweetened to taste with splenda and xylitol, and cook that down to thicken as well.