This will be a quick post, I believe. I was meeting up with a friend for lunch last weekend and I always bring treats when I meet up with friends. I wanted to do something different… new… exciting, something I thought he would like and reflect his personality.
I consider this friend a health nut, very outdoors-y and into nutrition. I did not know he even ate sugar until recently. Gasp! So, in his honor I was thinking of what I dubbed “A Mountain Man Cookie.” It would contain all the things (within reason) people would love about hiking snacks in cookie form.
The ingredient list I came up with: cashews, almond, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, dried cranberries, dried apricots, butterscotch chips, M&M mini pieces, and the kitchen sink… After looking at this laundry list of ideas, I decided to simplify it just a bit. When I think of “healthy” yet yummy, I think of granola (I know it can be high in fat and such, but go with my logic here), and dried fruit.
Accomplishing a Cherry White Chocolate Cookie was on my top 100 list, and I LOVE being able to cross things off that list. Therefore, I decided to scale back the Mountain Man Cookie, into something just as good and more manageable. This cookie contains Granola (I used a nice organic brand that is not too sweet), dried sweetened cherries (that still actually taste pretty tart), almond slivers, and white chocolate chips (for a punch of sweetness).
These cookies came out phenomenally well. The granola gives it a nice textural contrast and crunch. The tart cherries are a welcomed surprise to the palate. The almond gives it a hint of nature and the chocolate chip gives it the sweetness longed for and necessary in a cookie. I got rave reviews from my friend and that means a lot.
As a side note, if you noticed the labels on these cookies—No, I did not “buy” the cookies, claim to “make” them, but forgot to remove the label. This is the name of my new business; I have launched my LLC. It is still very much in the beginning planning stages, but it feels good to put my name on something and start building a recipe and client base. I will blog more on my business later.
A Baker at Law Original
Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) Butter, at room temperature
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg or Egg Replacer
1-2 TBS Dry Milk Powder (optional)
1 cup Bread Flour
1 1/4 cup Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 Baking Soda
Dash of Salt
1 1/2 cup Granola, crumbed into healthy sized chunks
3/4 cup Dried Sweetened Cherries
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
1/2 Bag of White Chocolate Chips
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream together butter and both sugars.
3. Add vanilla, egg replacer, and dry milk powder and mix together.
4. Combine flours, baking powder and soda, and salt, then mix with butter mixture.
5. Stir in remaining ingredients (granola, cherries, almonds, and chocolate chips).
6. Scoop cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Flatten cookies slightly with hands.
7. Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes. Cool on cooling rack.
8. Enjoy.
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