Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies

These are somewhat lower in fat (sour cream replaces some of the butter), higher in protein (walnuts) and higher in fiber (raisins) than your average chocolate chip cookie.

The recipe also calls for slightly less sugar than most, but the addition of raisins makes up for the sweetness. Corn syrup and sour cream lend a delicate fluff to the texture which, in combination with the walnut’s crunch make for an addictive cookie.

Chocolate Chip Raisin Walnut Cookies – makes 3 dozen

1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 C brown sugar
2 T corn syrup
1/2 C butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 C sour cream
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 C flour
3/4 C walnuts
3/4 C raisins
1 C chocolate chips

Mix wet ingredients and brown sugar in a small bowl. In a medium bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts and raisins.

Refrigerate dough for about15 minutes to chill. This will make it easier to scoop and also make it less likely for the cookies to spread out on the cookie sheet as they bake. While the dough chills, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Scoop by tablespoon onto a slightly greased cookie sheet – these have less fat than most cookies, so they’re not as self-greasing. (Frugal tip: I like to save the wrappers from sticks of butter for the purpose of lightly greasing pans.) Place dough mounds about an inch and a half apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove cookies from cookie sheet and allow them to cool on a cooling rack.

Serve with an ice cold glass of milk on a “pretty, pretty dish”, as my mother says. Recognize the plate Mom?

Ingredient origins: Egg – New Hampshire, Vanilla – Madagascar, Brown Sugar – Florida, Corn Syrup – UK, Butter – Maine, Sour Cream – Texas, Baking soda – Who knows?, Walnuts – California, Raisins – California, Chocolate chips – California.

Coconut Curry Brownies (that happen to be Lactose Free)

This idea came to mind the other day when I was trying to think of what to do with some leftover Thai curry paste. We’d had our fill of savory-spicy applications, so I thought using it in something sweet might be interesting. Chocolate takes on spice very well and coconut goes nicely with curry and chocolate, so I decided to develop a brownie recipe using all three.

I also decided to cocofy it, thereby unendairying it. I just made up those words, but what I mean is that in this recipe, typical dairy based baking ingredients are replaced with coconut milk and coconut oil. I chose to do this in order to achieve the rich coconut flavor that complements chocolate so well. The fact that it’s lactose free is a happy and delicious accident.

These turned out to be dense and moist, with a decadent coconut flavor and a mild finish of curry spice. If you’re not into spice in your brownies, you may omit the curry paste. I suppose.

Lactose-Free Coconut Curry Brownies – yields 2-3 dozen, depending on the size of the brownies and the brownie pan.

1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 C coconut oil
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk, full fat recommended
1 t Thai red curry paste
2 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C flour
1 C unsweetened, shredded coconut

In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, cocoa and coconut milk, wetting the cocoa powder (this will prevent a cocoa powder sandstorm when you use the electric beater in the next step).

With an electric beater set to medium beat until smooth. Add the sugar, eggs, curry paste and flour, beating on medium until combined. Stir in shredded coconut.

Pour into a greased, 10 x 13 inch rectangular brownie pan or 9 x 9 inch square brownie pan for higher brownies Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes for the rectangular pan, or 25-30 minutes for the square pan, until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Ingredient Origins (this time they’re not so local, but at least they’re still keeping with the minimally processed, less than five ingredients, requirement): Equal Exchange cocoa powder – Dominican Republic, by way of the Netherlands, Organic coconut oil – Colombia, Coconut Milk – Thailand, Cage-free organic eggs – New Hampshire, Sugar – unknown, Flour – Vermont, Shredded coconut – Oregon.

Apple Pie

Who doesn’t love apple pie? Especially this time of year when the apples are fresh and sweet. I got the apples for this pie at a local orchard. Normally I like to use McIntosh apples for pie, but I heard recently that Northern Spies are good for pie because they keep their shape well. This turned out to be true – the slices even stood up to a good toss with the other filling ingredients without breaking.

Another ingredient to note is honey, which I added to the pie filling. I debated whether it would add too much moisture, but in the end decided the flavor would be worth it, and it was. When my husband tasted the pie, he guessed right away that there was honey. It added a nice richness. I chose not to add spices like cinnamon this time because I didn’t want to detract from the apple flavor.

This pie turned out to be light and satisfying, and not at all filling. That may be because I didn’t add butter to the filling as is usually done. The result was an almost refreshing apple pie.

Apple Pie – yields 8 slices

Pie Pastry:

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter, ice cold and diced
7 – 9 T ice cold water

Pie filling:

6 – 8 pie apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 C flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2 T honey

Start with the pastry dough so that it can rest in the refrigerator while the filling is made. Blend flour and salt in a large bowl. Drop ice cold butter into the flour and either cut with a pastry blender, or blend in a food processor until it it has the consistency of large crumbs. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, lightly tossing until just incorporated. Form a ball out of the dough, cut it in half and refrigerate 10 – 15 minutes.

Peel and slice apples while the dough chills. Add flour, sugars and honey and toss until the apples are evenly coated.

Take dough from refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to somewhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch thickness and about 10-11 inches in diameter. Lay the bottom pastry in a 9.5 inch pie plate. Place a pie bird in the center (Or make a cone out of tin foil. Pie birds are good to use in liquidy pies with top crusts because they allow a channel for steam to escape without causing the crust to leak or the filling to overflow). Surround the bird with an even layer of the apple filling.

Gently fold the top pastry into quarters to find the center. Unfold. With a knife, make an X in the center of the pastry. Carefully slip the bird’s head through the X when placing the pastry over the top of the pie. Seal the crust by brushing a light coat of water around the lower pastry. Remove excess dough around the rim. Crimp the edges. I do a press and fold method – press with the right thumb, fold with the left.

Seal the bird into the pie with some of the excess pie dough. I made him a little scarf with a fringed edge. And he thought he was going someplace cold. Ah birds…

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the crust is lightly browned and starts to look like pastry and not pastry dough.

Allow to cool for a 2-3 hours before slicing.

Ingredient origins: The flour came from Vermont. The salt – who knows? It was another regrettable Costco purchase not to be repeated. The label says Cargill of Minnesota, so there’s no way for a consumer to know the precise origin of this product. (Cargill is the same industrial food giant responsible for knowingly selling a slurry of slaughterhouse waste and ammonia labeled as “Chef Selection Angus Beef” frozen hamburgers to consumers, according to the New York Times.) The butter came from Maine. The apples came from a nearby orchard. To be honest, I’m not sure the origin of the sugars. I purchased them a while ago and immediately stored them in glass jars on the counter top, tossing the packaging. The honey also came from Massachusetts.

Lactose-Free Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread is a minimalist. Containing only three ingredients: butter, flour and sugar, simple is what shortbread is all about. In fact, Simple would be Shortbread’s middle name, if it wasn’t mononymous already. That’s how minimalist shortbread is.

I made these the other day for a friend who avoids butter. Instead, I used Earth Balance, and they came out great. The final product had a nice buttery flavor and a rich texture.

Dairy-Free Shortbread Cookies – makes about 18 cookies

1 1/4 C All purpose flour
1/2 C Earth Balance
1/3 + 1/4C granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour and and the first 1/3 C of sugar in a medium bowl. Cut Earth Balance into the flour mixture until blended. Using a rounded tablespoon, scoop dough onto cookie sheet.

Using the underside of a rounded teaspoon, make little indentations (this helps hold the sugar in the next step).

Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 C of granulated sugar.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.