Whole-Wheat Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are usually made with white flour and too much sugar. I use whole-wheat flour and reduce the amount of sugar almost half.

I was not a fan of sugar cookies until I had a child. Now I can seem to stop making them! In carrot-shape at Easter, or pumpkin shape in the fall…

I’ve lost count of the number of times we made them in all sorts of shapes for play dates. I blend powdered sugar with just enough water to make “spreadable” icing, and a drop or two of India Tree coloring (no synthetic dyes). Each child gets a portion of icing in a cup and decorates happily away, adding sprinkles on top.

Whole-Wheat Sugar Cookies
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Servings
36 - 48 cookies
Servings
36 - 48 cookies
Whole-Wheat Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
Servings
36 - 48 cookies
Servings
36 - 48 cookies
Ingredients
Adjust servings: cookies
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In a large bowl fitted with an electric whisk cream the butter. Gradually add sugar mixing until it is all blended in. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla until well mixed.
  4. By hand mix in flour about 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
  5. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface until it's about 1/4-inch thick.
  6. Cut with cookie cutters into desired shapes. Place cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet.
  7. Bake in oven for 6 – 8 minutes until edges turn golden brown.
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Carrot and Beet Pancakes

I’m always looking for ways to incorporate more beets into our weekly meals when staying with my father. Parkinson’s is a challenging disease; one of the ways I deal with impotence of the disease is trying to boost nutrition into my dad’s daily life.

Beets help blood flow and are brain-healthy. So beets go into breakfast smoothies and raw grated beets go into salads. These pancakes are a new way to use beets.

The first time I made them, I served them with a potato, turnip and pumpkin puree (spiced with tumeric and cumin). Yum!
And an arugula, tomato salad with green onion and CMF vinaigrette.

I’ve since made them for teatime, which is my dad’s favorite late afternoon interlude and oftentimes he wants tea rather than dinner.

I think they’d also be a lovely brunch option.

Variations:

  • Add ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes to give spice them up
  • Serve with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or puree the yogurt with a clove of garlic and ¼ cup of cilantro, mint, or parsley.
  • Serve with sweet potato puree, a cauliflower and potato puree
Carrot and Beet Pancakes
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Servings
4
Servings
4
Carrot and Beet Pancakes
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Servings
4
Servings
4
Ingredients
Adjust servings:
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Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  2. Peel and grate beets (should be about 1 1/3 cup). Put in a mixing bowl.
  3. Peel and grate carrots (1 cup). Add to beets. Mix in egg, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper.
  4. Add flour; stir to blend well.
  5. Generously brush a baking sheet with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown.
Recipe Notes

Variations:

  • Add ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes to give spice them up
  • Serve with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or puree the yogurt with a clove of garlic and ¼ cup of cilantro, mint, or parsley.
  • Serve with sweet potato puree, a cauliflower and potato puree
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Carrot-Shape Sugar Cookies in Oreo “Dirt”

By request, this is the third year these cookies are part of my Easter menu; they’re becoming a family tradition.

The instructions seem long-winded and intimidating but don’t let the step-by-step instructions alarm you. They’re so worth it. Or recruit the kids and make it a family project; it will be fun!

I use India Tree food coloring (available on  Amazon) made from highly concentrated vegetable colorants; they contain no corn syrup or synthetic dyes.

What to do with all the leftover Oreo dirt?
I freeze it for another time; here is one of my favorite ways to use the Oreo crumbs
Epicurious: Frozen White Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse

I’m going to give this Grasshopper a try, it evokes happy childhood memories! Have you ever had Grasshopper Pie?

Simply Recipes: Grasshopper Pie

Carrot Shape Sugar Cookies in Oreo Dirt
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Carrot Shape Sugar Cookies in Oreo Dirt
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Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl cream, with electric beater (or by hand), butter and sugar together for several minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
  3. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring and one drop of red.
  4. Slowly add flour mixture until well mixed. Adjust food coloring one drop at a time until it has the desired orange shade.
  5. Turn off beater and shape dough into a ball.
  6. Divide in half; roll each half into a log on a silpat or floured surface. If the dough is too soft and sticky, refrigerate for 10 - 15 minutes. Don't let it get too cold or it will be difficult to shape.
  7. Cut into ½” slices
  8. Roll (either on the counter or between your palms) each slice into a cone shape
  9. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
  10. After cookie sheet is full, slightly flatten the “carrots”
  11. Refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight; they hold their shape better if they're really cold before baking
  12. Bake at 350 for 5 – 8 minutes (depending on the size of your “carrots) peeking to make sure the tips don’t get too dark. Cool
  13. Stick a toothpick in the top of each cookie, carefully pushing it almost all the way in. Make an assembly line. Tie a green ribbon on the tip of toothpick. I use fabric-with-wire ribbon because I can shape them.
  14. Grind Oreo cookies in a food processor or blender. Place the Oreo “dirt” in a serving dish.
  15. Dip bottom half of "carrot" cookie into Dulce de Leche and stick in the Oreo dirt.
Recipe Notes

NOTE: Make ahead so it’s not overwhelming. For example

  • 1 or 2 weeks earlier a) make and freeze the cookies to bake later or b) make AND bake the cookies. If making ahead; I freeze them (baked or unbaked it’s the same process) in a large ziploc bag lined with parchment paper. Place parchment paper between the layers or cookies also so they don’t stick together.
  • Make the Oreo crumbs by pulsing 6–8 cookies at a time in a blender or food processor. Store in a covered container.
  • One or two days before, tie green ribbon on toothpicks and insert into baked cookies. I like using fabric ribbons wire to hold the shape)
  • Day of: recruit your kids to dip the “carrots” in Dulce de Leche and place in Oreo “dirt"
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Spinach Pancakes

These pancakes from weelicious are yummy and fun. Move over green eggs and ham! I always love an opportunity to punch up the nutrition in breakfast and this is a perfect example. I also love tempting kids to eat something they might not otherwise want to. So without hinting at the reason for the green, I simply made them for brunch on a St. Patrick weekend and everyone, even the littlest guest, all of 18 months, ate their fill.

Because I usually don’t have buttermilk, I mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar) and let it sit 10 – 15 minutes before making the recipe.

 

Spinach Pancakes
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Spinach Pancakes
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Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine the spinach, buttermilk, egg, and oil and blend
  2. until smooth.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
  4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
  5. Heat a large pan or griddle over medium heat and grease with butter or expeller-pressed canola oil.
  6. Pour about 1 tablespoon of the pancake mixture onto the griddle, cook about two minutes.
  7. Flip the pancakes and cook for one minute longer and serve.
Recipe Notes

Modified from Weelicious.com: Spinach Pancakes

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Apple Cranberry Crisp

Fruit crisps are one of my favorite desserts, bursting with lovely bites of berries, peaches, or whatever the fruit may be. Generally associated with summer, this crips takes us into fall with the bright, tartness of cranberries.

Apple Cranberry Crisp
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Servings
8
Servings
8
Apple Cranberry Crisp
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Servings
8
Servings
8
Ingredients
Adjust servings:
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Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish.
  2. In a bowl mix brown sugar, oats, flour, 1 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspooon cardamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.
  3. Add butter, pressing with a fork until it resembles crumbs. Mix in chopped pecans.
  4. In another bowl toss apples, cranberries, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.
  5. Transfer apple mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake 45 – 50 minutes until apples are tender, and topping is crisp.
Recipe Notes

Serving suggestions

1. For a special treat, serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

2. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt (first mixed with honey to taste)

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Very Blueberry Scones

Loaded with blueberries, these buttery scones are one of our all-time family favorites. If fresh blueberries are not in season, frozen blueberries work just as well, and even dried blueberries.
Raspberries or blackberries could be used instead.

Very Blueberry Scones
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Servings
8 servings
Servings
8 servings
Very Blueberry Scones
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Servings
8 servings
Servings
8 servings
Ingredients
Adjust servings: servings
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Instructions
  1. Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl mix whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, ginger and sugar.
  3. Add butter pieces, mash into flour with fork and then using fingertips, rub in chilled butter until pieces are size of small peas.
  4. Mix 1 cup buttermilk and lemon zest. Pour buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients and stir just until milk is blended in (it will be thick and somewhat sticky).
  5. Add blueberries and gently fold in; not all blueberries will get fully mixed in.
  6. Transfer dough to a floured work surface and divide dough in half. Form each half into a flat disc, then cut each disk into 6 wedges.
  7. Transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until scones are golden brown on top and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
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Peach and Blackberry Crisp

Stone fruit and berries sprinkled with a blend of oats and nuts just barely crumbled together with a touch of butter (or coconut oil), and baked just enough to make each bite burst with flavor….hmmhmm summer has arrived!

Mix some plain Greek yogurt sweetened with honey to taste and add a dollop on top of the cooled crisp.

Or for a special treat, place a scoop of simple vanilla ice cream over a hot serving and savor the contrast of the frozen ice cream melting into the fruit.

Variations:

  • Instead of peach, use nectarines or plums
  • Instead of blackberries, any other berries or a mix of berries – or no berries, just increase the peach by a cup or two

 

Peach and Blackberry Crisp
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Peach and Blackberry Crisp
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Ingredients
Adjust servings:
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Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 375°F and butter (can use coconut oil) a 9 x 9 baking dish.
  2. Combine berries, peaches, juice and zest in a bowl and mix well. Place in baking dish.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients with hands until moist and crumbly. Scatter crumb mixture evenly over fruit in baking dish.
  4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until fruit bubbles and top is golden brown.
Recipe Notes

Modified:

Epicurious: Blackberry and Peach Crisp

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Nutrient Dense Berries and Nut Pancakes

Berries, bananas and nuts oh my! These are so delicious and nutrient dense, made with whole wheat flour and oats, keeping bellies satisfied and fueling our brains for a day at school or work.

Double the recipe because they are super delicious to have in the freezer for busy weekdays.

Toppings

  • Mashed fresh (or defrosted frozen) berries — add a drizzle of maple syrup or honey if you need it sweeter
  • Plain Greek yogurt mixed with a touch of honey or berry puree / preserves
  • Nut butters, warm it up a bit so it is more spreadable, and a drizzle of maple syrup or honey
  • Chia Jam from Gimme Some Oven
Berries and Nut Pancakes
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Servings
8 people
Servings
8 people
Berries and Nut Pancakes
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Servings
8 people
Servings
8 people
Ingredients
Adjust servings: people
Units:
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, combine first 5 ingredients.
  2. Place bananas in another bowl, mash and mix with milk, eggs and almond extract.
  3. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients; stir until smooth. Mix in berries.
  4. Warm a skillet over medium heat; brush with butter, avocado or coconut oil.
  5. Measure 1⁄4 cup batter; pour onto skillet. Cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Recipe Notes

Modified from

Epicurious: Fruit and Nut Pancakes

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Sweet Potato Pancakes

This is one of my favorite pancake recipes, delicious and leaves the belly feeling full and happy. Whenever I have sweet potato on my weekly menu (either to roast or cook stovetop), I add an extra sweet potato to have for these pancakes or for Sweet Potato Oatmeal. If I’m not going to use it immediately, I freeze the puree. You can also use butternut squash or pumpkin puree (canned is fine) instead.

Sweet potatoes
Sweet Potato Pancakes
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Servings
4
Servings
4
Sweet potatoes
Sweet Potato Pancakes
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Servings
4
Servings
4
Ingredients
Adjust servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
  3. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
  4. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and lightly coat with butter or oil. Pour about 1 tablespoon of the pancake mixture onto the griddle, making as many pancakes as will fit and cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Flip the pancakes and cook for one minute longer.
  6. Top with homemade cranberry sauce, pureed mixed berries or pear compote
Recipe Notes

Serve with maple syrup and chopped nuts on top.

Weelicious: Sweet Potato Pancakes

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Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Every bite of these muffins tastes like fall, evoking cooler weather and a kaleidoscope of orange, gold, rusts and red color in the trees.

The flavor and texture is so lovely and the nutrition of pumpkin, apple, nuts and seeds motivate me to make them at other times of the year as well.

[su_expanding_quote_book source_author=”Steven Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews” source_title=”SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods that Will Change Your Life” affiliate_link=”http://amzn.to/1TGUOyo” full_quote=”Pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients, including potassium, magnesium and vitamin C and E. The key nutrient that boosts pumpkin to the top of the Superfoods Rx list is the synergistic combination of cartenoids. Pumpkin contains one of the richest supplies of bioavailable cartenoid known to man. Cartenoids are deep orange, yellow or red colored compounds that help protect us from free radicals, modulate our immune response, enhance cell-to-cell communication, and decrease the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration. Cartenoid-rich foods have been shown to reduce the risk of various cancers, lower and rates of heart disease.” short_quote=”Pumpkin packs an abundance of disease-fighting nutrients, including potassium, magnesium and vitamin C and E”]
pumpkin and apples
Pumpkin Apple Muffins
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Servings
18 muffins
Servings
18 muffins
pumpkin and apples
Pumpkin Apple Muffins
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Servings
18 muffins
Servings
18 muffins
Ingredients
Adjust servings: muffins
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin pan with a pastry brush (or paper towel dipped in) expeller-pressed canola or coconut oil.
  2. Mix first flour, cardamom and baking power into medium bowl.
  3. Stir pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs in large bowl until well mixed. Mix in dry ingredients. Add apples, raisins and walnuts mixing just until blended.
  4. Place equal amounts of batter into prepared cups, fill almost to rim. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.
  5. Bake 25 – 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes

Adapted from Epicurious: Pumpkin Apple Muffins

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