Thursday, January 22, 2009

Some Cookies with Agave Nectar, Barney Butter and Other Good Stuff

Time for cookies!   Anna recently posted a link on Cookie Madness to a sight with tons and tons of recipes that use agave nectar in place of sugar.  Agave is a  sweetener that is low glycemic, all natural, and you use only 1/3 cup in place of 1 cup of sugar.  It is almost like the consistency of honey, but not quite as thick or sticky.  I have been trying to find ways to use it and so has Anna. 

I was also recently able to purchase some much-talked-about  Barney Butter (a great almond butter!) and set out to find a cookie recipe to use both the agave and Barney Butter.  After searching the link Anna provided, I chose this recipe for some chocolate chip cookies.  You can get that recipe, but I changed quite a bit of things, so here are the cookies I made.  My recent discovery of using pureed beans in place of fat in baked goods also prompted me to try a little in these cookies.  (You can puree a whole can of beans--black for things like brownies and any white beans for things like cookies--basically you just match the color of what you're going to make with the color of beans.  You can add a whole can with the liquid included to a food processor and process until smooth, but I rinsed and drained the white beans and just added a little water as needed to make a smooth puree, I think it only took about 2 tablespoons of water for the whole can.) 

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Barney Butter Chocolate Almond Cookies (with agave)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons white bean puree

1/4 cup Barney Butter (I used smooth)

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons Egg Beaters with a touch of yolk (or 1/2 an egg)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

3 oz. Hershey's Milk Chocolate w/Almonds bar, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside. 

Combine butter, bean puree, Barney Butter, agave nectar and brown sugar in bowl of mixer and beat until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add baking soda, salt and flours and mix just until combined.  Stir in chopped chocolate.  Scoop dough in balls onto baking sheet.  (I used a small scoop, 3/4 to 5/8 oz.)  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes.  Cool a few minutes on the baking sheet, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

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These aren't cakey, but soft and sturdy and full of great almond flavor, chocolate and nutrition! (Use a dark chocolate and some chopped almonds to make them even better for you!)  Stay tuned for more cookies! 

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

They look awesome! And wow with the substitutes very nice.

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

WOW!!!!! cookies are good as it is...and with all that healthy stuff...do i need a reason.. ;p

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Interesting and nutritive cookie! Looking at them nobody would guess how healthy they are, they look so good!

Megan said...

Oh my gosh those are just too healthy - now I'm curious to try the agave nectar! And the beans, what a great idea - I'm assuming you can't taste them at all, but obviously they add a bit of nutrition.

Judy said...

I'm going to have to try these after I research agave nectar some more. My first bit of research uncovered some negatives about it so I'll have to dig deeper.

Judy said...

OK, here's the skinny: agave nectar,which is 90% fructose, when consumed with other high-glycemic foods, will take on their properties, thereby becoming high-glycemic. In addition, the main carbohydrate is inulin. Many people react adversely to inulin. I think I'll stick to stevia.

Becky said...

Whoa, Barney butter? At first I was a little confused, Barney brand of butter? Now what was special about that, are they purple? Then of course I read on further, what a gourmet cookie! Sounds just tempting.

BTW, I have so many people just completely curious about the hard boiled egg cookies.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting. I am cooking for someone who has to avoid white sugar. I am definitely trying these.

Anonymous said...

I love almond butter, I'll have to check out Barney butter. Thanks for the tips on using beans. I recently started using agave.

sweet delight said...

Your cookies look fabulous!

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

These look great and love the substitutes. I was lucky enough to win Barney butter and we love it too!

Sara said...

This looks like a fun cookie to try with all the unique ingredients!

Leslie said...

Oh yum..I have a big jar of Agave nectar that I bought at the store without knowing what I was going to do with it. Thanks for the yummy idea.

Leslie said...

Oh and I am glad your boys liked the fruit roll ups!

RecipeGirl said...

What a cool recipe. I saved that link to the agave recipes too and will be checking out some of those ideas.

Hope you'll enter one of your cookie experiments in my Super Bowl recipe contest- you can win a $250 gift card!

Hallie Fae said...

Yum, those look great!

Anonymous said...

That texture looks fabulous! Love the big chocolate chunks too!

Randi said...

Do you have nutrion info for these? I havent been baking because we're doing weight watchers. I dont want the temptation in my house. But, those look fairly healthy. I won the barney butter too and I have tons of agave. I might have to try them.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

We keep looking but haven't found any Barney Butter yet. These cookies look wonderful.
Nancy

Anonymous said...

i just made these today. the batch i baked already didn't spread at all and just baked as blobs (too sticky too pat down). they ended up coming out totally cakey.. but still yummy. i put 1/3 of the rest of the batch in the fridge (it didn't fit on one cookie sheet) and i'll make them later tonight and flatten them down some.

good to see others baking with agave!

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