Nutella Brownies

I made some brownies last week that have Nutella (Chocolate Hazelnut Spread) in them.  In fact, the only chocolate in the brownies was from Nutella.  I wasn’t sure really what to think, like maybe they wouldn’t be “brownie” enough.  But I loved these!  And the pan of them was sure eaten quickly by everyone here at our house!  One thing I was surprised that I really liked about them is that they are still fudgy and chocolaty, but not grainy/sugary how I sometimes think brownies can be.  Brownies often have so much sugar that I think they can be gritty (though don’t get me wrong, still great!).  With using Nutella, these just have a little extra brown sugar and I thought that made them have a smoother texture, which I liked.

Not to mention, Nutella is great and I really liked the taste.  These were simple to make, almost just like my favorite brownies (this link leads to some brownies I made with chocolate and caramel, but the recipe for just the basic brownies can be used with all kinds of mix-ins).  I found the recipe for these Nutella Brownies at I Adore Food.  I didn’t’ really change anything from the recipe, but I’ll give you some of the measurements also in grams as well.  My favorite way to measure ingredients is with a kitchen scale!

Nutella Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from a couple other sources

1/2 cup (60 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup Nutella hazelnut spread (296 grams)

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed, (110 grams)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup melted butter (I used salted)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil, spray lightly with cooking spray.  (I love the non-stick foil that is available!).  Let the sides of the foil hand over the edge to easily remove the brownies from the pan for cutting them.

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl, set aside.  Let sit to cool slightly while you do the next few steps. 

Combine the flour and salt in a small bowl.  In the bowl of a mixer, combine the eggs, Nutella, brown sugar and vanilla.  Mix well for a minute or two.  Scrape the side of the bowl.  With the mixer on low speed, add half the flour, then half the melted butter.  Add the rest of the flour, then end with the rest of the butter and mix just until all combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Cool in the pan until completely cool on a wire rack.  Then, if you have time, or can wait that long, chill the brownies in the refrigerator for a couple hours.  Remove from pan using foil edges.  Peel the foil off the back of the brownies and cut into desired size pieces.  I think brownies taste better chilled, but you can also serve/eat them at room temperature.

 These will for sure be made again (and again) here at our house!  If you love Nutella, you’ll really like these.  If you’re like my husband, who does like Nutella, but still couldn’t tell they weren’t just “regular” brownies. ;)  Yes, I love that man of mine!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Granola Recipe

I made some of the most decadent, delicious granola, but it’s still pretty darn healthy.  I’m loving having it for breakfast and maybe a little snacking here and there, too.  It won’t last long, but you can be sure I’ll be making this Dark Chocolate Raspberry Granola again soon!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Granola, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

4  1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut*

1/4 raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Dark)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey (or agave nectar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup freeze-dried raspberries**

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, almonds, flaxseed meal, salt, cocoa powder and brown sugar.  Mix well.  In a medium sized microwaveable bowl, combine the oil and honey.   Microwave for about 30 seconds.  Whisk until well combined.  Add the vanilla and combine.  Pour over the dry ingredients and stir well until all is coated.  Spread evenly on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 22 minutes.  Remove from oven and don’t mix the granola.  Let cool completely.  Break into pieces.  Add the chopped dark chocolate and freeze-dried raspberries.  Store in an airtight container.

*If you don’t like coconut, don’t add it.  You could add a little more oats, or another nut if you’d like to replace it.

**If you don’t have or can’t find freeze-dried raspberries, some dried tart cherries or even dried cranberries would be good! 

Every morning for breakfast I have plain Greek yogurt (mixed with a little Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt—I just can’t quite do plain Greek), but with this granola on top, it is the bomb!  The freeze-dried raspberries have a great light crisp texture and a perfect bit of tart to go with the chocolate.  The granola itself is not too sweet at all, in fact I like that it isn’t. 

**I have one of these large cans of freeze-dried raspberries, they are a little expensive, but the can is large and lasts a while and they are so good and healthy, it’s worth it.  The website, Honeyville Grain also has some smaller bags, too.  Freeze Dried Raspberries from Honeyville Grain.  One thing I love about Honeyville is that their shipping is always $4.49 no matter how much you order in weight.  I ordered a 50 pound bag of whole wheat pastry flour from them and it only cost $4.49 in shipping!  Check out all the products they have!

Homemade Three Musketeers Ice Cream and Milk Chocolate Fudge with Walnuts made with Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

I made this ice cream recently as an experiment and it turned out delicious.  It was going to be called hot fudge ice cream, because hot fudge is what I used to flavor it, but it has an almost light airy texture and tastes just like the nougat of a Three Musketeers candy bar!

I have recently discovered that you can make homemade sweetened condensed milk at home using dry powdered milk—and so far, I cannot tell the difference.  I have a nice storage of powdered milk (don’t mistake it for instant dry milk, which isn’t the same)!  We were looking through our food storage recently and realized we have a bunch of dry powdered milk that is coming upon it’s “use by” date.  I also have a great book, I Can't Believe It's Food Storage, by Crystal Godfrey—who I consider the queen of food storage.  She has all the best ideas of things to do with your food storage.   Some may not know, but us Mormons try to have many things in our food storage that would be useful if there comes a time of emergency or say loss of job/income.  We try to be prepared as you never know what kinds of things can happen.  Having seen floods and earthquakes this past summer as well as other times, I’m even more convinced of the importance of having a good supply of things we might need.  Anyway, that’s where having “extra” comes in.  And long story not so short, that’s why we have a bunch of dry powdered milk. 

The key is to rotate it properly.  I wasn’t quite up to par with using it, because I kind of grew up having to drink powdered milk and I just don’t care for it.  I still don’t think I could just drink it (maybe in an emergency), but I’ve discovered it is so useful and even good in many other things—like this ice cream!  Keep on reading, I made fudge, too—and you’d never know it wasn’t store bought sweetened condensed milk from a can!

In Crystal’s book (check out her website sometime at Everyday Food Storage), she gives a recipe for homemade sweetened condensed milk.  It could not be more simple.

*Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Crystal at Everyday Food Storage

1/2 cup hot water

1 cup non-instant dry powdered milk

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon butter

Combine ingredients in a blender and mix thoroughly.  Scrape sides of blender bowl and continue to blend until well combined.  Use immediately or store in the refrigerator

I first made the condensed milk and used it for fudge which turned out fantastic.  You would never know it wasn’t canned sweetened condensed milk!  I’ll share that with you in a minute.

The ice cream was my second attempt at seeing how the homemade condensed milk would work.  I was kind of just making something up as I went along and after looking through the fridge, I found half a jar of hot fudge sauce and decided I’d flavor a chocolate ice cream with it.  It was simple and turned out great!

Homemade Three Musketeers Candy Bar Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

*(see recipe above) 1 recipe homemade sweetened condensed milk

1/2 a jar of hot fudge sauce (about 2/3 cup)

2 cups heavy cream

dash of salt

2 ounces dark chocolate, melted (optional)

In a blender, combine the hot fudge and 1 cup of cream and mix until well incorporated.  Scraped sides of blender.  Add the condensed milk, remaining cream, and salt and blend to combine well.  Pour the mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 20 minutes.

A few minutes before it is finished churning, drizzle in the melted chocolate.  Store in the freezer in an airtight container.

 

This ice cream really was light and fluffy with just a hint of chocolate flavor, just like the center of a Three Musketeers candy bar and the bits of chocolate were a perfect addition.  Try it!  Better yet, try that homemade sweetened condensed milk.  Crystal also has a recipe for making your own evaporated milk that I plan to try soon.

Here’s the fudge made with the homemade condensed milk.  This is just the same simple recipe you can find at Eagle Brand with sweetened condensed milk and melted chocolate chips.  Crystal has a recipe in her book.  I’ve pretty much made that same recipe, but adapted it just slightly.  I have found with fudge that I like to put extra vanilla in it.  I tried it once and found it to be just a little more creamy and I really like the kick of flavor.  I think it would be fun to try other flavor extracts, too.  I love almond extract and raspberry was well.  Wish I could “afford” (my gut and hips) to just make lots of different kinds.  Sigh.  I was able to take most of this fudge to a ladies church activity after I made it and it was well liked there.

Easy Fudge With Walnuts made with Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3 cups (18 ounces) chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

*(see recipe above) 1 recipe of homemade sweetened condensed milk

dash of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Line an 8x8 square baking pan with non-stick foil with the edges hanging over to easily removed the fudge from the pan.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Melt the condensed milk and chocolate chips in a medium sized saucepan over medium to low heat.  Sprinkle in the salt and stir with a spatula until smooth.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.  Let set in refrigerator for a couple hours.  Remove from pan, peel off foil and cut into one inch squares on a cutting board.

Don’t like walnuts—switch it up to whatever you’d like.  If you add other flavorings, I’d still put some vanilla in as well.  We have a shindig with friends coming up in a couple weeks and I think I’m going to try a couple other flavors of fudge!

Homemade Ciabatta Rolls

I recently made homemade ciabatta rolls.  They were actually quite simple to make.   There are a few steps involved and some time (you start making the dough the day before you want to eat the rolls), but mostly you can do what you want while the dough does “its thing”.

First thing, I didn’t know this, but you start by  making a starter called biga.  It’s simple.  After you mix up a few things, it rests overnight (and you do, too).   The biga just has some water, yeast and flour, much like a starter for sourdough.  For your enjoyment and learning, I took some photos of the process.  You should feel quite special about that. ;)

Here’s the biga ready for it’s sleep time.

The next day, it’ll look kind of soupy (forgot that picture), but you’ll add the biga to some water and yeast and rub your fingers through it and loosen it up into stringy blogs.  How fun is that!

After that, you just add some salt and the flour and stir (I let my Kitchen Aid do it all with the dough hook) until it becomes a thick, wet dough.  After a short rest, you again let the mixer knead the dough for 15-18 minutes.  Go about other business, but stay in the kitchen.  With that mixer working away, it gets a bouncing just a little and you don’t want it to walk its way off the counter!  That mixer is workin’ it.

After it has kneaded itself into a beautiful dough, cover it and let it rise for 2-3 hours.  It’s worth the wait!  Here’s the dough after that first rise.  I ran to the store when it was almost at the 2 hour mark and by the time I returned, it was ready to go, almost deflated a little, but it worked just fine!

The dough, with the help of a well-floured counter, forms beautifully.

You could actually just bake it like this and cut or tear off pieces if you’d like.  I wanted to make rolls, so I just cut it into rustic pieces and carefully moved them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

The dough is very soft and bubbly.  Don’t deflate it, that’s what gives ciabatta that nice airiness.  I just carefully moved each one with a flat knife and my fingers.   I had two sheets full which was about 18 rolls.  Use your fingers to dimple the surface of the dough and let them rise uncovered for just 30 minutes.  Here’s a roll all ready for the oven!

They are baked at a high temperature of 475 degrees which helps give them that nice crusty exterior!

These made for some great barbeque chicken sandwiches, but were just as good slathered with some butter!

Wow!  That’s a lot of pictures!  I won’t do that to you every time.  It’s just not me.  But that was kind of fun to look back and see the progression of a ciabatta roll.  Give them a try!

Okay, that’s all.  Are ciabatta rolls ever made with whole wheat?  I just might have to try that because I really only took a bite or two of one of these as I try to mostly only eat whole grains.  (Oh yes, treats and desserts are an exception there!)  More of that coming soon!

Oh, and the recipe for these rolls, I got from The Kitchn and followed it almost exactly, it a well-written post with lots of photos and tutorial that’s easy to follow.  

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats

Almost have nothing to say about these latest Rice Krispies Treats creation of mine—because the pictures do all the talking.  If you like Oreo cookies and particularly the Mint Filled Oreos, you’ll really like these Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treat!

I was inspired by a couple of things in my pantry.  One was a bag of yet another Kraft marshmallows I’d found recently—chocolate mint.

I like them.  They aren’t too chocolate minty, but were perfect for making these treats.  My family must have liked the mallows, too—as I only had half a bag left because they thought they’d be perfect in their chocolate mint hot cocoa recently.  So I made these Rice Krispies Treats with only half a bag of the chocolate mint ones and a whole bag of regular mini marshmallows.  I also had some Cocoa Krispies cereal, so I used those, but regular Rice Krispies would be great, too!

So, besides having the chocolate mint marshmallows, I also just happened to have some Cool Mint Oreo cookies, too.  I’m working on using things in my pantry!  (Oh, I’ve still got lots of sweet goodies in my baking pantry, so stay tuned!)  I’d bought the Oreos for just such a treat as these—and then, once again, my family started eating the cookies.  So these treats actually don’t have as many cookies as I would have liked to put in them, but still plenty and if you make these—put as many Oreos as you’d like!

Cool Mint Oreo Cocoa Krispies Treats, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

10.5 ounce bag of regular mini marshmallows

4 ounces (1/2 a bag) Chocolate Mint Marshmallows (if you can’t find them, just use more mini marshmallows)

7  1/2 cups, (310 grams) Cocoa Krispies cereal (regular Rice Krispies would be fine, too)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

16 Cool Mint Oreo cookies (or more, if desired), roughly chopped

Line a 9x9 inch pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine all the marshmallows and the butter.  Microwave in 30 second intervals until all melted.  (It only takes a minute to a minute and a half.)  Stir with a wooden spoon.  Add the cereal and stir together until combined.   Fold in the cookies.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan and press down evenly.  (I use a flat potato masher that is lightly sprayed with cooking spray—it works perfectly!)  Let set at room temperature for an hour or two.  Remove from pan with foil edges.  Peel off foil and cut into desired size pieces on a cutting board.

 If you like chocolate mint things, you’re really like these.  The mint flavor isn’t too strong and perfectly sweet!

Almost Vegan Gingerbread Biscotti

For being a non-coffee drinker and never dunking any cookies in anything, I love biscotti.  I realize you don’t have to fit that bill to like biscotti, but it is actually one of my favorite kinds of cookies.  It has to be made just right though.  I don’t like the rock hard kind that would be more suitable for dunking.  I like them crisp, but with a little chew.  These Almost Vegan Gingerbread Biscotti fit that bill and are actually pretty healthy, too!  My kind of treat!

I’ve made these twice and changed a few things the second time---to make them even more healthy.  I will admit, the first ones (less whole wheat flour, more oil and real sugar, as written in the recipe), are the better of the two, but I like that the second time around they are a bit better for you.

Here’s the recipe as I made them the first time, which by the way I got the recipe over at Anna’s blog, Cookie Madness.  She got the recipe from another site which are from a cookbook called Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.  Anna adapted the recipe a bit and I have, too.  But check out the original post and Anna’s.  She’s also got a number of other gingerbread biscotti recipes on her blog as well! 

Almost Vegan Gingerbread Biscotti, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used 110 grams of whole wheat pastry flour and 110 grams of all purpose flour)

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1  1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup mild molasses

1/2 granulated sugar (original recipe has 2/3 cup)

2 tablespoons flax meal (ground flax seed)

2 tablespoons fat free milk (original recipe calls for soy, almond or coconut milk—which would make this whole recipe vegan)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

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

Combine the flour(s), baking powder, spices and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk together.  In another bowl, combine the oil, molasses, sugar, ground flax, milk and vanilla and whisk until mixed well.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until a dough is formed.  Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips just until combined.

Put all of the dough on the baking sheet and form into about a 12 inch long log about 3-4 inches wide.  Flatten the ends and sides to make them even.  Bake for 24 minutes until the log is puffed and firm, but not too brown.  It will spread a little and some cracking is fine.  Allow the log to cool on the baking sheet for about 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  Slide the log off the baking sheet and onto a cutting board.  With a large, sharp knife or a serrated knife, cut log into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices.  Gently move slices to the baking sheet with a spatula or the flat side of the knife all in a row, but not too close together.  Bake again for 15-20 minutes (until desired crispiness is achieved).  Allow to cool on baking sheet about 10 minutes.  Carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.

____________________________________________________

I could live off this biscotti. ;)

The second time I made them, I used only 6 tablespoons of oil (instead of 8) and I used all whole wheat flour and a sugar substitute (called Fibrelle—which isn’t available in stores yet.  The company sent me some to try out.  I really like it, but it’s not available in stores yet, so I can’t really tell you too much about it.)  I do like that it doesn’t TASTE like a lot of those sugar substitutes, which I often don’t care for. 

The second batch weren’t quite as thick and spread a little more, but were still great and I like that they were all whole wheat.

So there you have it—another healthier treat you can try.  I really like ginger and chocolate together.  You could leave that out and add some dried cranberries if you’d rather.  If you like biscotti, these are great!

Dark Chocolate Coconut Brownies (Mounds Brownies)

I know, I said healthy treats.  Well, stay tuned for more of those soon!  I made some goodies for a meeting Kevin was having here (He’s the faculty advisor for Beta Alpha Psi in accounting at UVU.)  I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies, some great Rice Krispies Treats that I’ll tell you about soon and these Dark Chocolate Coconut Brownies.  I was proud of myself that I didn’t eat any of the cookies or cookie dough!  When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I almost like the dough more than a cookie.  I didn’t even taste these brownies, but they sure look great.  Besides that, a lot of the people who came to the meeting complimented me about all the treats, but kept referring to the brownies the most.   

I actually changed a few things from my popular Almond Joy Coconut Brownies.  Besides that recipe being gluten free because I used coconut flour, I also adjusted a few of the ingredients just a little.  These Dark Chocolate Coconut Brownies are super moist, thick and gooey and taste perfectly like those Mounds candy bars!  They are not gluten free, though you could easily make them with coconut flour or another alternate flour.  I used all purpose this time.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup regular cocoa powder

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (45 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded, sweetened coconut

pinch of salt

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line an 8x8 inch square baking pan with foil (I like non-stick foil) so the edges hang over the sides of the pan a little.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside. 

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and cocoa powders over low heat until all combined and smooth.  Remove from heat and let sit five minutes.  Add the eggs to the cocoa/butter mixture and whisk until combined.  Stir in the sugar and vanilla until well combined.  Add the flour and salt and whisk until combined.  Pour about half the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the coconut, salt and condensed milk.  Stir to combine.  Dot the coconut mixture evenly over the brownie batter.  Put the remaining brownie batter in a sandwich sized zip top bag  with the corner snipped off about 1/4 an inch.  Drizzle evenly over the coconut.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Let cool completely on wire rack.  Chill in refrigerator for a couple hours (you don’t have to do this step, but I prefer it and think it really adds fudginess to the brownies).  Cut into desired size pieces.

If you’re a coconut lover you’ll love these.  And you know, sometimes you don’t feel like a nut!  If you do, throw some toasted almonds on top of the coconut.  Enjoy!  (I wish I could have afforded to do so.) 

Next up—a yummy healthy treat—for me!  And I’ll share the recipe with you. ;)

These brownies are being added to Lisa’s Sweets For a Saturday blog hop.  Check out all the delicious looking goodies!

Almond Cranberry Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies (with dark chocolate)

Welcome to 2012 at Baking and Boys!  I’ll be on a little bit of a healthier kick, but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean there won’t be treats and goodies and even some more indulgent ones now and then.  While working away on the treadmill early one morning recently, I came across this recipe for these Almond Cranberry Quinoa Cookies in the latest (January 2012) issue of Bon Appetit magazine (Yes, I read foodie magazines while I’m on the treadmill.)

I was intrigued by these cookies having cooked quinoa in them and I just happened to have some leftover plain cooked quinoa in my fridge.  That sold me, but so did everything else in the cookies—almonds, cranberries, oats, whole wheat flour, a lower amount of sugar, it all sounded good to me as I start the new year (pretty much always do after the holidays) eating a little better than I had been.

I made the cookies today and think they’re great!  I did make one change to the recipe, but I don’t think it really changed them much.  I used Bestlife buttery baking sticks (a 50/50 non-hydrogenated butter substitute that I really like).  Just decided if I was going to make a healthier cookie, that I’d go with that butter substitute instead of the butter called for in the recipe.

Besides that change, after I baked half the dough as written, I added some dark chocolate to the rest.  So some of the cookies don’t have chocolate and some do!  Can you guess which I like better?  Here’s the recipe with my changes. 

Almond Cranberry Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies with Dark Chocolate, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  1/2 cups (180 grams) white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used a coarse grain)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup Bestlife buttery baking sticks (could use butter or another butter substitute like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (55 grams) packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled

1 cup (80 grams) old-fashioned oats

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup slivered unsalted almonds (I used sliced almonds)

2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (or chips)---optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  (I used my convection oven, so I heated the oven to 350 degrees).  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Beat together the butter, sugars and honey in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and almond extracts and beat another two minutes.  Add flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Stir in quinoa, oats, cranberries and almonds.  Add the chocolate, if using.  Scoop (about 2-tablespoonsful) dough out onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies until golden, 12-15 minutes (I did 11 minutes with two sheets in my convection oven at a time).  Remove from oven and let sit on the baking sheets for a couple minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Makes 24-28 cookies.

Serving—1 Cookie,  Calories 148, Carbs 21 grams, Fiber 2 grams, Protein 2.9 grams, Sugars 10.7 grams Fat 6.3 grams (that is if you use real butter)

 I love the almond extract in these and would recommend it if you’re using almonds.  They are a soft, chewy cookie and have many great flavors.   You could use walnuts or pecans if you don’t like almonds, or raisins or tart dried cherries instead of cranberries.  I think these could easily be a great pre-workout food or even a breakfast cookie (or two).  Thanks, Bon Appetit!