Fat-Free Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I have had a few people comment my postings asking for a fat free recipe, so I thought I would make one. The recipe I found sounded so good! I actually thought that because it was fat free the cookies would be made with ingredients that I wouldn’t like or come out tasting bland. But they came out pretty good…although they could maybe use some dark chocolate chips. This recipe took about thirty minutes to make and made about two dozen cookies...and by the way, these cookies taste better than they look!


Ingredients
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. Karo, light or dark (corn syrup)
3 egg whites

Directions
•Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.
•In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
• Stir in corn syrup and egg white until blended (dough will be thick and slightly sticky).
•Drop by rounded teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes or just until set (cookies will be soft when pressed). Do not over bake. Cool on rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Grahams

So I thought I would try making a no bake recipe. These cookies are very fast and easy to make. They took about twenty minutes and made about five dozen cookies. The only problem I had while making them was covering them with chocolate. It took me a while to figure out a way to get them fully covered with chocolate without getting too messy, but I finally found a way. I figured out that it’s best to dip one side of the cookie into the chocolate and then placing then on the cookie tray and using a knife to spread chocolate on the rest of the cookie.

Ingredients
1 jar (18 oz.) peanut butter
1 package (16oz.) graham crackers, broken into rectangles
1 ½ pounds milk chocolate candy coating

Directions
•Spread a rounded teaspoonful of peanut butter on one side of half of the graham crackers. Top with remaining crackers.
•In a large heavy saucepan over low heat (or just use a microwave), melt candy coating; stir until smooth.
•Dip cookies in coating to completely cover, allow excess to drip off.
•Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets; let stand until firm. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.

Decorating cookies

There are many decorating techniques that I have wanted to do, but have not yet done because they take too much time. And I don’t want my cookies coming out looking like a mess. Some of the different techniques I have wanted to do with the cookies I’ve made are piping, dragging, and flooding the cookie dough, drizzling frosting or chocolate on the cookies, adding color to the dough, and using different types of frosting to put on the cookies. But the decorating technique that I want to do the most because I love they way cookies look with it is using stencils. I think this technique looks so cool on cookies, but I would have to have a lot of patience to do it because it can get mess and frustrating. Here are some websites that will go into more detail about the different techniques you can use to decorate any cookies you make.

http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/techniques.cfm?cat=6
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/

Coffee Shortbread

I thought I would make another type of cookie that involved coffee. So I decided to make coffee shortbread. This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies and takes about forty five minutes to make. Unfortunately these cookies didn’t stay soft after they cooled, but they didn’t get too hard either. The brown sugar and butter helped keep them a little soft. I was glad I made this recipe because I was able to use some of my cookie cutters that I haven’t used yet and I’ve been waiting to get a chance to use them.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp instant coffee granules
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup semisweet chocolate chip, melted
½ cup vanilla or white chips, melted

Directions
•In a mixing bowl, cream sugars and coffee granules.
•Gradually beat in flour and salt.
•On a lightly floured surface, roll out to ¼ in. thickness. Cut with floured 2 in. to 3 in. cookie cutters.
•Place cookies 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
•Bake at 300 degrees for 20 – 22 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool.
•Drizzle melted chips.

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies took about thirty to forty five minutes to make and came out really nice. They also stayed soft after they cooled because of the applesauce in it. This time I did make a few changes to the recipe. I decided not to add raisins because I’m not a big fan of them, and I didn’t put any frosting on the cookies because I like them better without it, though I did make some of the frosting just to test it out. Also, I didn’t have any chunky-style applesauce so I just used regular and that made no difference to the recipe. For the frosting my dad got regular pancake syrup instead of pure maple syrup, so I had to use that instead, but the frosting still came out tasting good.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ cup chunky - style applesauce
1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp coarse salt
1 cup golden raisins

1 ¾ cups confectioner’s sugar
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Directions:
•Make cookies: Preheat oven to 350. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined.
•Add egg and applesauce, mix until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix in raisins.
•Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart.
•Bake cookies until golden and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper; let cool completely.
•Make icing: Whisk confectioners' sugar, syrup, and 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

I loved how these cookies came out! They stayed really soft, only took about forty five minutes to make, and made about three dozen cookies. Three dozen cookies in forty five minutes, I think that’s pretty good! Now if you want to, when it’s time to put the frosting, you can either put the frosting on the cookies the way it is or you can do what I did, which was putting it in the microwave for a few seconds so that the frosting will get a little thinner. I also think the cookies taste better with the warm frosting on it.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Brown Sugar and Butter Filling
6 tablespoons softened butter, (slice 2 Tablespoons 3 times totaling 6 tablespoons)
3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar, (divided into 1/4 Cups)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided (1/4 teaspoon for each batch)

Frosting
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
2-4 Tablespoons milk, to thin icing

Directions:
•In a mixer, cream the sugar and butter. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream until well combined. Slowly add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined.
•Place in plastic wrap in a disc shape and chill for at least 2 hours for best results.
•Once chilled, cut disc into thirds and roll into a 1/8 inch thick oval, about 12 inches by 5 inches.
•Spread each rolled pieces of dough with 2 Tablespoons softened butter, 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Start rolling from the long end closest to you, rolling into a log shape. If your dough is too soft at this point put it back in the fridge to get harder. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/2 inch pieces of dough then placing onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.
•Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. You are going to want to try to cook them longer. DON'T! Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet.
•To prepare frosting, beat the cream cheese until softened and smooth, slowly add powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Using a Substitution

Since my last post was on different substitutions for ingredients in recipes I thought I would use one of them in a recipe. So I decided to use a recipe that I have already done and liked the way it came out. That way if the cookies came out bad I would know it was because of the substitution I used and not because of the recipe.

I think these cookies came out good! For these cookies I decided to use bananas to substitute the eggs. I was scared that you would be able to taste the banana used in the recipe, but luckily you don’t taste it at all. I also liked how the texture of the cookies came out. Last time I made this recipe the cookies came out crunchy once they cooled and they came out smooth looking on the top. But this time the cookies came out looking like they were made by Chips Ahoy or something (well that may be exaggerating a little). They were also still soft once they cooled and I love when cookies come out like that!


Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t. Kosher salt
3/4 t. baking soda
2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
2 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
12 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and soda. Give it a stir with a whisk and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 1 minute. Then, add both the sugars and beat for at least 2 more minutes, until mixture is completely smooth. Beat in vanilla extract, and then scrape down sides. Next, add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.
4. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing well after each addition. Once the final portion is incorporated turn off mixer. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
(At this point dough can be wrapped in plastic and set in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Or, wrap the dough in plastic and an outer layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 2 months.)
5. Drop cookie dough by the teaspoonful on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat, bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack and eat while still warm!

Substitutions

Let’s say you are craving your favorite cookies and pull out the recipe to begin making them. So you’ve already begun putting the ingredients together, when all of a sudden you realize that you don’t have all the ingredients. Well, I have found a few substitutions that you can use if you ever get stuck in this situation. You won’t have to stop everything you’re doing to go to your grocery store because the ingredients you can use to substitute the missing ones in your recipe will most likely be found in your kitchen. If you want to know about more substitutions and about other substitutions for the ones I have already listed you can find them Here!


Substitutions
•Baking mix - 1 cup - 1 cup pancake mix
•Baking powder - 1tsp - ¼ tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
•Brown sugar - 1 cup, packed - 1 cup white sugar or 1 ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
•Butter (salted) - 1 cup - 1 cup shortening plus ½ tsp salt
•Buttermilk - 1 cup - 1 cup yogurt
•Corn syrup - 1 cup - 1 cup honey
•Egg - 1 whole - Half a banana mashed with ½ tsp baking powder
•Vegetable oil - 1 cup - 1 cup applesauce