Whole Wheat Flour & Deliciously Healthy Baking

{Hey Everybody! We’ve got a guest blogger here on Everyday Life at Leisure for today! Welcome Celia Harkey, our Leisure Arts Food Editor! She’s talking about baking with healthy ingredients, and she’s got a Freestyle Health Cookies recipe to share with you from our new Deliciously Healthy Baking cookbook!}

Have you ever wished you had an easy recipe for a yummy cookie with healthy ingredients? Have I got the recipe for you! The Freestyle Health Cookies recipe starts as a whole wheat dough with the addition of flavor-packed healthy ingredients. It is one of many delicious baked goods found in Leisure Arts’ new Deliciously Healthy Baking cookbook.

Freestyle Health Cookies is an easy recipe with a variety of healthy ingredients—nuts, dried fruit, granola and whole wheat flour. It is a hearty and tasty drop cookie that you will definitely want to sample. In addition to the original ingredients, you can also go “freestyle” with this easy recipe to make it your own.

Chef Laskin has used pistachios and walnuts in this cookie, but it would be the same easy recipe to make with your kids’ favorite nuts—pecans and almonds. In addition, the dried cranberries are always a favorite in cookies, but you can easily make your own version substituting raisins or small bits of dried apricots. Healthy ingredients like these, paired with whole wheat flour, are found in many of the recipes in Deliciously Healthy Baking. This inspiring baking cookbook is part of the new Deliciously Healthy series from Leisure Arts.

Freestyle Health Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cane or brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup pistachios, peeled, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup granola
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

PREPARATION:
1. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beating with the mixer's flat beater on low speed for 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth.
2. Add eggs, walnuts, pistachios, cranberries, granola, salt, whole wheat flour and baking powder, continuing to mix on low speed for 3 minutes.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F.
5. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining batter mixture, spacing each tablespoonful 1-inch apart.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes and serve.

Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

All bakers will be delighted with the recipes in Deliciously Healthy Baking! There’s something for every level of baking skill—from the easy recipe for Freestyle Health Cookies to recipes using more advanced techniques such as in the Special Breads chapter. These beautifully shaped breads are made with yeast and sourdough starter (with both dark and white starter recipes given in the book) in combination with whole wheat flour and a variety of other flours, whole grains, seeds, nuts and other healthy ingredients for hearty, good-for-you loaves. These are the aromatic breads that tell everyone in your home that something delicious is baking in your oven!

One of the breads I thoroughly enjoyed baking and sharing is the Long & Twisted Whole-Grain Breadsticks. This yeast bread utilizes a combination of white flour and whole wheat flour. Plus, it uses chilled butter to develop the wonderfully crisp layers using a puff pastry technique. Before baking, the breadsticks are coated with a combination of wheat bran and coarse bulgar wheat for a nutritious and very tasty crunch.

Getting hungry? I know you will enjoy using some of your pantry staples for many of our delicious cake, cookie and bread recipes. But, you’ll really look forward to trying some new ingredients like whole wheat flour, rye flour, spelt flour, flax seeds and grape seed oil to build on your baking ability and sample new healthy flavors. You’ll find the recipes and numerous baking tips in Deliciously Healthy Baking, but sample the cookies on us!