Bob's Christmas Cookies

I’ve been doing some baking this year, and thought I’d leave this to post for you, as Holiday activities will have me tied up. My baking strategy is to look at 3-4 recipes on the Internet, then take the parts I like, using healthy substitute ingredients where possible. But I find eggs work better than eggbeaters in cookies. Enjoy.

Bob's Ginger Snaps

Best cookies I made, I think.

1 cup Splenda brown sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup sugar free Maple syrup

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, syrup, and eggs. Combine the flour, oats baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the batter mixture.

Put in fridge for an hour. Teaspoonfuls 2 on greased cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. (I baked the first batch 12 minutes, came out nice, but crisp and stuck a little to the cookie sheets.)

Bob's Peanut Butter Cookies

I made these as my granddaughter loves peanut butter cookies. But, alas, she still preferred the high-sugar packaged mix. Sigh.

3/4 cup canola oil

1 cup Splenda

1 cup Splenda Brown Sugar or sugar-free maple syrup

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt

2 eggs

2.75 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Cream together oil, peanut butter and sugars/syrup. Beat in eggs and yogurt

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour

3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Bob's Applesauce Cookies

I wanted to make something for our new condo neighbors in Des Plaines, but wasn’t sure if their kids might have nut allergies, so I substituted applesauce instead. Came out pretty good, fluffy like cake.

3/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup Splenda (More if you like them sweeter)

1 cup Splenda Brown Sugar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2.75 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Cream together oil, applesauce and sugars. Beat in eggs and spices

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1/2 hour

3. Drop teaspoonfuls onto on greased baking sheets. Bake in a preheated oven 375 degrees for about 12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Bob’s Nutella Cookies

I made these because the granddaughter likes Nutella, but she said they were just “okay.” Not sweet enough. I like these the least, and agreed they were just “okay,’ but my wife is more into chocolate, and liked them.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup Canola oil

1 1/4 cups Splenda

½ cup low fat vanilla yogurt or skim milk

2 eggs

1 cup Nutella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the oil and Splenda until smooth. Mix in eggbeaters and Nutella. (It takes a little mixing, but works.) Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake about 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool.

Bonus: Britnye’s Peanut Butter Cake

(My granddaughter, Britnye, loves peanut butter cookies. She also loves cake. So I figured that a peanut butter cake would work, and created this recipe. I have never heard of one, but it seems so obvious, there must be hundreds of recipes. This came out pretty good; she declared it the best thing I ever made and asked me for another for her up-coming slumber party. Enjoy. Bob. 12/2012)

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup eggbeaters)

2/3 cup canola oil

1.5 cups Splenda brown sugar mix

1 cup skim milk

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup of rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups of all purpose flour

Cream eggs, oil and Splenda together. Stir in milk, Stir in peanut butter. Stir in oats, baking powder and flour.

Put in greased cake pan. Bake in pre-heated over at 350 degrees for about 65-70 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Bonnie’s Nutella Cake

(My bride is the chocoholic in the family, so I made this one for her.)

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup eggbeaters)

2/3 cup canola oil

1.25 cups Splenda

1 cup skim milk

1 cup Nutella

1/2 cup of rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

2.5 cups of all purpose flour

Cream eggs, oil and Splenda together. Stir in milk, Stir in Nutella. Stir in oats, baking powder and flour.

Put in greased cake pan. Bake in pre-heated over at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.