I made a batch of one of our favorite chocolate cookies recently, and made use of some new organic flavorings I recently purchased. I chose the hazelnut and it worked great in place of the vanilla! The original recipe comes from the magazine "Vegetarian Times". I've made a couple of permanent adjustments, like subbing whole wheat pastry flour. In one of the photos above, you can see another addition, which is a little bit of raw sugar sprinkled on top for taste and appearance. There's a little nutrition boost with the prune puree, and no eggs or butter makes them an option for some folks with food allergies - but check first before you serve these to people with allergies as there are always hidden ingredients that we might not know about.Makes 16 cookies
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 tsp. baking soda
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
* 3 Tbs. canola oil
* 5 Tbs. prune baby food
* 1 tsp. vanilla extract (or try hazelnut extract)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Heat chocolate and oil in glass measuring cup in microwave on medium power 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until melted. Stir in baby food and vanilla, then stir into flour mixture. If dough is too crumbly to hold together, add 1 Tbs. more baby food.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Press with bottom of drinking glass to flatten. Bake 12 minutes, or until small cracks form on cookie tops. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet; transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
