My mornings usually consist of quickly packing two lunches-one for me, and one for my teenager. Yes, I know he's old enough to pack his own, but since I'm packing one for myself, I don't mind packing his too. We usually have the same thing anyway, so it's not a problem. Since Kevin can't eat anything with soy or soybean oil, it makes lunch packing a bit of a challenge. No packaged food means no cookies, granola bars, or the standard lunchbox fare so each week I bake cookies, muffins, or homemade granola bars.
Recently I discovered Roger's 9 Grain Blend at the store and thought I'd try some in our cookies to make them a little healthier. The mix has no additives or sodium, and adds goodness such as oat bran, wheat bran, barley and rye flakes, oat flour, millet, sunflower seeds, and more to your baking. We tried the recipe on the back of the package for a change this week. The resulting cookies were a little more crumbly and cake-like rather than chewy, but also had a little texture from the various grains. Kevin really liked them, and when I added a scoop of the nine grain mix to John's favourite cookies instead of a cup of oatmeal, he loved it. I think it might be a good mix to experiment with!
Ingredients:
1 cup Rogers 9 grain blend
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter until soft. Add the brown sugar and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
Measure out the flour, 9 grain blend, baking soda and salt together into a medium sized bowl and stir with a whisk. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir together on low.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop the dough by level tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes until set and golden. Remove the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely.
Makes about 2 dozen
Adapted from Rogers (on the back of the 9 Grain Blend bag)
