Healthy Christmas Cookies and Treats
Well it's getting to be that time of year when we start to think about the approaching holiday season and the guests and festivites that accompany it. We thought that this year we would attempt to feature some ideas and recipes about eating those wonderful Christmas cookies and treats but with a little more heatlhier spin. We want to use the whole grains in our flours, less sugar (but they still should be sweet) and of coarse less fat (butter and oil being the biggest culprits). We hope you find some of these recipes to your approval and encourage you to try them out yourselves. We are making our own fresh flour to start with in our Nutrimill Grain mill. Make certain to check out the bottom of this post for more healthy Christmas Cookies and treats.
Sugar Plums - Contrary to their name there is actually no sugar in these Sugar Plums. While not really a cookie or a candy, this treat is easy to make by just running prunes, raisins, and dates through the meat grinder attachment for the Bosch Universal Plus and then adding a little whole wheat flour, spices and lemon juice. We then roll them into balls and roll them around in chopped nuts or coconut. They just melt in your mouth.
Click here for the Sugar Plum Recipe
 Fruits and Nuts - I think this is what some of my friends may call us but we do like to add lots of nutritious fruits and nuts to our goodies so the family not only enjoys their treats but also gets some healthy benefit from it as well. A good example of this kind of recipe is this Fruit and Nut Crunch Square that we make with dehydrated fruit. The sweetness and really the only thing that holds these together is the rolled oats and the Sweetened condensed milk. They are easy to make a real easy to eat!
Click here for Fruit and Nut Crunch with Dehydrated Fruits Recipe
Cookies and Whole Grains -Cookies are an ideal way to use a variety of grains. The textureand tast often enhance what would otherwise be a rather ordinary cookie. Some grains, such as barley, oats, rye, wheat and triticale, can be used as the only flour in the cookie recipe. Other grains, such as corn and buckwheat, have strong flavours which must be mellowed by other grains. They are not the best choice for cookies. Millet, milo, and rice tend to make cookies sandy, crumbly and dry. When using these grains in cookies, use only a small proportion in combination with other grains.
When a variety flour is substituted for wheat flour, it usually requires more flour than what the recipe calls for. Add additonal flour a tablespoon or two at a time until the desired consistency is obtained. Variety flours, combine well with wheat flour in cookies. Proportions are usually 50% whole wheat and 50% variety grain flour. A good multigrain mixture for cookies or brownies is 1 part barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, or wheat flour and 1/2 part buckwheat flour.
When making cookies in your Bosch Universal Plus, use either the French whips or Cookie Whsks to cream the butter, shortening and sugar and eggs and then change to the dough hook to let it mix in the flour etc. You also can use the Cookie paddles from start to finish for both the creaming and mixing stages if you remember to jog the machine a few times before adding the really heavy stuff like the oatmeal, nuts, fruit etc.
 Everyone likes cookies straight out of the oven. Cookie dough lends itself beautifully to this type of spur-of-the moment treat. With a Bosch Universal Plus, however, you can make a large batch of cooke dough, shape it into a long log, wrap and freeze it. Just before dinner, take the dough out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few minutes (it thaws quickly) and cut slices off the log and place on the cookie sheet to bake and enjoy immediately.
Click here for Raspberry Oat Bars Recipe
Click here for Six Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Click here for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Cookies Recipe |
Fruits and Nuts 
Everyone likes cookies straight out of the oven. Cookie dough lends itself beautifully to this type of spur-of-the moment treat. With a Bosch Universal Plus, however, you can make a large batch of cooke dough, shape it into a long log, wrap and freeze it. Just before dinner, take the dough out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few minutes (it thaws quickly) and cut slices off the log and place on the cookie sheet to bake and enjoy immediately.
