Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the past two years I have tried, tried, and tried again to tweak the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe to be.....hmmmmmm, maybe a bit less "bad for me".  I have made a few batches of cookies that went straight into the garbage.  Some of the batches were edible.  Others were eaten only by me.

Imagine my excitement when I came across this recipe last fall.  It at least had whole wheat flour.  And the cookies were not flat pancakes.  I decided to give them a try.

I am so glad I did.  (Well, maybe I'm not.  I ate 14 of these little bad boys the other day.  That is not an

exaggeration - or lie, if anything I am underestimating the number I ate that day.  I try to keep it under 10.)  I have played around with this recipe a bit - replacing the sugars and butter - and they are still delicious, and not at all like a pancake.  So, if you want the regular version of these cookies, click on the link above the picture.  If you want my made-over recipe, read on.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

{printable recipe}

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup coconut oil (not melted)

1/2 cup Turbinado sugar

1/2 cup Sucanat*

1/2 cup agave

2 cage-free, organic eggs**

2 teaspoons vanilla

semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use about 1/2 bag of the chunks or 1/3 bag of the mini-chips.)

* I have been using coconut sugar in place of the Sucanat.  I have also used more Turbinado and less Sucanat.  Play around with it but keep the total sugar to about 1 - 1 1/2 cups.

**I am going to try using flax seeds or chia seeds in place of the eggs in the future.  I'll let you know how that goes.  

{I have tried this recipe using flax seed as eggs.  So yummy.  I couldn't tell a difference - for real!  You can check out how to substitute them here.}

Preheat the oven to 350.  

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.

Beat coconut oil and sugar together in large bowl, or in bowl of a stand mixer, until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat to combine.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two batches and mix.  Add the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.

Using a cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon), scoop dough and place on nonstick cookie sheet.

Bake for 7-8 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on pan for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.

I made a double batch of these cookies the other day and lined a baking sheet with wax paper/parchment paper.  I scooped balls of dough onto the sheet and then placed it in the freezer until the balls were solid. Then I put the dough balls (is there a better name for them???) in a ziplock bag.  Now we can pull them out and bake a few at a time.  I'll just cook them a minute or two longer.

scrub a dub dub

In order to save money for my family the past few months, I have looked into every sort of "make your own" lotions, scrubs, cleaning products, etc.  I have tried the lotion, once I perfect it, I will post a recipe.  Right now I am using the end of a wooden spoon to get it out of the container it's in.  I love the lotion, it's just a bit thick.  I have never liked using bleach to clean with or other harsh chemicals.  I hate the smell and it makes my skin itch just thinking about it.  I have tried some homemade cleaners, but the jury is still out on some of them.  Besides, I still have some of my favorite "green" cleaners that I need to use up.  More on that in a later post.

That brings me to scrubs.  As in facial scrubs.  I have a scrub that I love, love, love.  Unfortunately, the piggy bank doesn't allow me to buy it right now.  I could go to Walmart and buy something there, but every time I try a grocery store brand facial lotion or scrub my skin goes NUTS!  I found a recipe for this scrub in several different places online.  Here's my version and I am {in love} with it.

Brown Sugar Scrub

1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix together in a small sealable container and keep in the shower.  

Make sure your brown sugar is "fresh". I used some the first time I made it that was pretty hard and it about tore my face off.  I added bread to the brown sugar and now the scrub is really pretty gentle.  I also dry off my face and hands before applying so that the sugar doesn't "melt" immediately.  I rinse with water and then wipe my face with a washcloth.  You could also use this as a body scrub.  After my shower I use a little bit of coconut oil to help moisturize and that's it.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I hosted book club at my house last night which meant I needed to come up with a dessert.  I decided to experiment with a recipe that I really love.  It looked sort of funny when I pulled it out of the oven and I almost grabbed the boxed brownies from the basement (I have one random box still down there - not sure how it survived the purge a few months ago...), but I decided to serve it anyway.  The ladies loved it, so since it passed their test, I thought I would pass the recipe onto you.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

(Inspired by a recipe from the Davies)

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted*
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup Sucanat
2 eggs, organic cage-free
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup fresh kefir

2 cups grated zucchini
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (pastry or finely ground)
4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup chocolate chips  (I used these chocolate chips, but these would work as well)

Place oil, butter, sugar, brown rice syrup, and Sucanat in large bowl and mix until well combined.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix until just combined.  Stir in zucchini.  In another bowl whisk together dry ingredients, except for chocolate chips.  Add dry to wet, mix well.  Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  Cool before cutting.

* I have made these with 1 cup of coconut oil and NO butter and they turned out great.

No Bake Cookies

 I went to a retreat a few months ago where I was able to learn how to "cook" raw food.  Three amazing women shared some of their recipes:  Raw Melissa, Green Smoothie Girl, and Gluten-Free Desi.  I ended up buying some of their cookbooks and am soooo glad that I did.  The recipes I have made have been delicious.  I was desperately in need of chocolate yesterday, so I whipped up some of these No Bake No Bakes from Raw Melissa's cookbook "FAVES".  They are so yummy, and taste so much like regular "cooked" no bake cookies.

Raw Melissa's No Bake No Bakes

makes 15-20 cookies

4 cups rolled oatmeal

1/2 cup almond butter (I used Kirkland organic peanut butter)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

3/4 cup agave

1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt

Mix by hand in a bowl.  Drop by spoonfuls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  Put in freezer until hardened.  Eat and enjoy.

**Once mine were hard, I put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge.  Next time I might try mixing the dry ingredients together first and then adding the wet.

The kids like them too.  I have a hard time finding "healthy" snacks that they will eat.  Especially since we have eaten so much candy the past few weeks.  Hello!  Comfort food!  I think these will become a staple.

I hope you enjoy!!

perfectly delicious popcorn

Coconut Oil

+

 Popcorn

+

Salt

=

 A Perfect Afternoon Snack

My kids favorite afternoon snack right now has to be this popcorn.  The original recipe suggests using canola, peanut, or grapeseed oils because of their high smoke points.  We no longer use any oil in our house unless it is coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, flax oil, or small amounts of butter.  So, I made some adjustments to the original recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  (Microwave and movie theater popcorn don't even come close!)

Perfectly Delicious Popcorn

3 tbsp coconut oil*
1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1 tsp original Himalayan crystal salt (OHCS)**

Heat the oil in a 3 quart saucepan on medium high heat.

Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.

When the kernels pop, add the rest of the popcorn kernels and the salt.  Shake the pan to evenly distribute the salt and oil over the popcorn.  Cover, remove from heat and count to 30.  Doing this heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.

Return the pan to heat.  Once the kernels start to go crazy popping, gently shake the pan by sliding it back and forth  over the burner.  Try to keep the lid slightly ajar so that the steam can escape.  Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove from heat and dump popcorn into a bowl.

Using this technique, we rarely have old maids.

*If you would like to learn more about why we use coconut oil versus other oils go here.
**We have been using this salt for a year now.  I can eat an entire bowl of popcorn by myself and my fingers don't get puffy like they do when I eat regular salt.  To find out more check this out.