Sunday, January 13, 2019

BACK ON THE BLOG (FINALLY), WITH YUMMY LOW-GLYCEMIC CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES




It's been about 2 1/2 months since I last blogged.  There are various reasons for this-- some "blogger burn-out", I suppose you could call it,  after 12 years, first of all (13 years, actually).  And then, there's been a fairly big change in my diet and how I cook now, since I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic last year and now eat a low-glycemic diet. (See blog posts from March 2018 and on, particularly this one.) I'm not on a low-carb, or no-sugar, or vegan keto diet.  I've just been learning to cook with low-glycemic and high-fiber grains and flours, and fewer sweets, and also learned about "resistant starch"-- see this post.

Just as I was feeling like blogging again, I developed a case of shingles!  This has laid me low for over a month now.  It is improving, but my energy has been pretty low.  I'm hoping that I'll be back to normal in a couple  of weeks, but it's hard to predict.

But, at least I've had a little more interest in cooking again.  Lately, I've been working on developing some truly good low-glycemic rolled biscuits, but I haven't got there yet! (Stay tuned.) I've also been working on a good high-fiber, low-glycemic, not too fatty or sweet chocolate chip cookie recipe. My goal was also to make it easy to make, using readily-available, inexpensive ingredients, and of course, to make cookies that still tasted like a treat!

So, I'd like to offer you my latest version, which I'm quite happy with (but, you never know-- I might refine them further). I hope that you will enjoy them, too!



BRYANNA'S LOW-GLYCEMIC CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
© 2019 Bryanna Clark Grogan. All Rights Reserved.
Servings: 12 cookies 
These also happen to be GF and soy-free, too, though I do not purposely avoid either of those things.

DRY MIX INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup COLD chickpea flour (besan/gram flour) (Keep some in a jar in your fridge or freezer.)
1 T. oat flour (You can grind oat flakes or quick oats to a powder in a DRY blender.)
1 T. coconut flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
WET MIX INGREDIENTS:
1 Psyllium "Egg":
Mix and let stand 5 minutes
2 tsp. psyllium husk (not powder)
3 T. water and
1/2 tsp. oil
(NOTE: If you have no psyllium husk, use 1 T. ground flax seed whisked with 3 T. hot water and then chilled in the fridge for about 5 minutes.  Both psyllium husk and flax seed are inexpensive, high in fiber and easily available in large supermarkets, bulk food stores, or natural food stores.)
*********
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 T. smooth UN-sweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
ADDITIONS:
1/2 cup dark vegan chocolate chips
Optional: 1/4 cup walnut pieces, chopped (Use pecans or other nuts, if you wish, or you can omit the nuts.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with baking parchment.
In a medium bowl, mix together the Dry Mix ingredients with a whisk.
Mix together the Wet Mix ingredients in a 2-cup measuring cup-- this works best with an immersion/stick blender.

Add the Wet Mix to the dry mix and stir with a spoon.  Then add the chocolate chips and nuts (if using).




Scoop the batter out with a 4 tsp. measuring spoon, slightly rounded, and drop a the dough "blobs" a couple of inches apart on the parchment-lined baking sheet, using a small silicone spatula to scoop the dough out of the spoon.

Bake for 6 minutes, 


then gently flatten each cookie a bit with a flexible stainless-steel slotted spatula (see below). 


Continue to bake for another 8 minutes.  Remove the baking sheet to a rack and cool for 5 minutes.  Then remove the cookies from the baking sheet to the rack and cool for at least another 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts (using the walnuts)  per cookie:
Calories: 134 ; Total Fat 8g; Saturated Fat 2.3g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 28mg; Total Carbohydrate 15.4g;  Dietary Fiber 1.4g;  Total Sugars 10.1g; Protein 2.1g; Calcium 9mg;  Iron 1mg; Potassium 58mg

Enjoy!





5 comments:

  1. Look delicious. I remember trying to make chickpea flour cookies once and they burned! This looks great; I will give them a try soon.

    Sorry to hear your feeling low energy, that's miserable. I think the new diet may be good in a way: you'll be doing lots of experimenting, yay!
    But, truly, I wish you wellness and blessings.

    Linda (one of your biggest fans,from a looong time ago!)

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  2. Thank you, Linda! Let me know how they turn out for you!

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  3. Hi Bryanna, welcome back! 12 years blogging? That's amazing! Thank you for all of your recipe shares and everything that you have done to share a healthy, delicious and comfort food vegan lifestyle with us all. I love your recipes as they are "real food" no carrot stick salmon around here, just good, wholesome and delicious food prepared with love by someone who actually does care. I love the look of these cookies. I have shared them with a friend who eats gluten free and who will seriously approve of these lovely treats. Again, thank you and welcome back! :) <3

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  4. Thank you, Beznarf27! Your kind words encourage me! All the best, Bryanna

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