We're always looking for ways in the recipes we make to use ingredients in the most whole food form possible. We notice that we actually feel better after eating a cookie say made with rolled oats and dates instead of flour and sugar or maple syrup. And the research is very clear that we get way more health promoting nutrients in the whole food form of the ingredients than the same food after being processed.
This week we took a classic, the thumbprint cookie, to convert to a very whole food version... and we really like it!
Join us to hear more.
Here's what we did. I looked up a standard recipe on the web. It used powdered sugar, butter, egg yolk, vanilla, salt, almond extract, white, all-purpose flour, white sugar and jam. Hmm, not one of these ingredients has seen the light of day in our kitchen for quite some time. 😂
To start, we make a chia egg. We add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds to 1/3 cup filtered water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. If you haven't made a chia egg (or flax egg, which is similar) it's amazing to see how it creates a very similar gelatinous, sticky quality like an egg that holds baked goods together well.
And the chia has about the same protein content as the egg yolk, but none of the cholesterol or saturated fat that egg yolks have. Here's to your health!
And a tablespoon of chia seeds has about 2400 mg of ALA, an omega-3 fatty acid, whereas the egg yolk has 30-70 mg of DHA, another form of good omega-3 fat. So we gain some nutrient benefit with this replacement, more omega-3s, and avoid adding the cholesterol and saturated fat from the egg. It's important to remember that eliminating unhealthy elements in our diet is as important as increasing the healthy ones if we want to restore or maintain a high level of health.
Then we process our dates, almonds and rolled oats together with the chia egg to make the batter. The dates replace the sugar, so that adds lots of fiber as well as minerals like potassium and magnesium. Also, the antioxidants in the dates (which the sugar doesn't have) help to slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream.
It's also interesting to note that the sugars in the dates are natural sugars, mainly glucose and fructose, compared to white sugar, which is pure sucrose. I think you can see why white sugar is often called "empty calories" compared to whole food sweeteners. With sugar there are no nutrients coming with all the calories, but dates provide the sweetening along with fibre, minerals, protein and complex carbohydrates. Lots of nutrients besides the calories from the natural sugar.
The almonds replace a couple of things, the butter and almond extract. The almonds provide fat in the whole food form with lots of fiber and other nutrients, so it goes into the bloodstream much slower. And the fat is mono or polyunsaturated versus the saturated fat and cholesterol of butter, which also lacks any fiber. And using almonds for the whole food fat, there's no need for the almond extract which is highly processed, often with alcohol.
In our recipe we replace the flour with rolled oats. The oats are lightly processed, but not nearly as much as the flour. And, even though lightly processed, it retains the whole form of the oat. All the nutrients are still there in the oats, whereas all-purpose flour strips nutrients from the wheat as part of the processing.
Regarding the salt in the original recipe, we just leave it out since we're SOS-free, meaning we don't add any salt, oil or sugar to our recipes. For sure, we don't miss the salt in this recipe.
The last thing to replace is the jam. Simple enough. We just take a frozen fruit, or you can use fresh fruit, and cook it down to a jam like consistency. It takes about 5 minutes on the stove top with the frozen fruit, and this eliminates the sugar that is added to most commercial jams.
With the ingredients being so "whole" the cookies have a chunky quality to them, but we actually prefer the chunkiness to the smoother texture of flour-based cookies.
If you want to test what a VERY Whole Food Plant Based cookie tastes like, you really ought to try this one. We think you'll like it. We sure do!
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
Chunky Thumbprint Cookies (makes 8)
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1/3 cup filtered water
- 1 cup fresh or frozen berries (optional Chocolate Sauce)
- 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 2/3 cup (14 medium) pitted dates, (soaked, if dry, 15 minutes in hot water)
Optional: 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
Suggested "jam" fillings: Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Peaches, Apricots, Pears, Chocolate Sauce (recipe below).
Preheat oven to 350º.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Make chia “egg” by adding the chia seeds to the 1/3 cup filtered water. Let soak for at least 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up any clumps.
Add the berries to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Let simmer until it has thickened like a jam. Smash it if its’s a bit chunky so it’ll lay into the indent.
Add oats, almonds, dates and coconut (if using it) to a food processor and grind to a medium chunkiness.
Add chia egg and process with the dry mixture. It’s ready when it forms a ball going around the bowl.
Spoon the dough onto the cookie sheet in 1” balls, 2 inches apart. I use a 1 1/8” cookie dough scoop and overfill it a bit to make 8 cookies. Flatten balls slightly, then press down in the middle with your thumb to make a thumbprint. Spoon in a little of your “jam”.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges get a little brown.
When done, transfer to a rack to cool.
Chocolate Sauce (this makes about 2 cups. Way more than needed for these cookies)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ¾ cup dates (16 medium sized dates)
- ½ cup cashews
- 1 ripe banana
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Optional: ½ teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add all ingredients to blender and blend on high for 60-90 seconds, until smooth.
Pour into a jar and store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.