Figgy Oatmeal Cookies

Quite often in the past couple of months I have heard the question, “Do we have any cookies in the house?” My response has always been negative but on more than one of these occasions I've thought to myself that I should make some type of healthier cookie than I could by in most stores. Eventually one afternoon about a week ago, I decided to not only think about making a great cookie, but decided to actually make some. Even before I started on this very short and sweet baking adventure, I already had a name for them: Figgy Oatmeal cookies!

I've never been much of a baker, but like most things that need some hands on experience I've taken on the phrase for many things. If you can read, you can.... and in this case it was bake cookies. I haven't baked a thing in over twenty-five years, but I figure the Web is my recipe book, at least to get some of the basic mechanics of the tasks required to not ending up with a failed project. After a quick search for some healthy oatmeal and fig cookies I found a recipe which I could play substitution with what I had on hand.

Taking stock

One thing I've been trying to keep around the house as a nice quick snacking food that hasn't gone through some strange mechanical process before it arrives in the local store:dried figs. I knew for fact that I had a few packages and these would give my cookies both some natural sweetness and an interesting texture. In addition to adding to what I would call these three bite morsels. Rolled oats was also something that I have, and while not steel-cut they are still miles cleaner than the plethora of breakfast cereals which the corporate food businesses try to ply to consumers.

While I didn't have some of the ingredients that I found on one of the simplest recipes, I knew I would be able to substitute out the honey with some fresh homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam as my natural sweetener – no processed sugar in that jam as I made it myself earlier in the season. And while I didn't have the called for almond flour I did have flax-seed and wholewheat flour.

The other simple ingredients were simply the glue to hold all the dry stuff together and add a little flavour. They included baking powder, eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon.

Ingredients – about 129 calories per serving of two cookies (makes between 20 and 24 cookies)

• Oatmeal, 1 3/4 cups
• Whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup
  
• Figs, dried, finely chopped, 1/2 cup
  

• Brown flax-seed, ground 3 table spoons gr
• Cinnamon, ground 1 tbsp
• Baking powder, 14/ tsp
• eggs, two
  
• Olive oil, 2 tbsp
  
• Strawberry-rhubarb jam, 1 tbsp
  
• Vanilla extract, no-alcohol, 1 tbsp
  

Putting it all together

Preparation is anywhere between ten and fifteen minutes and baking time is ten minutes.

The magic starts when you turn on your oven and preheat it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and start to chop up your figs, make sure you remove the stem, though while they are probably edible they do not enhance the consumption experience. Once you have half a cup of figs finely chopped put them aside. For the purpose of this recipe they are not considered dry ingredients but a building block.

While you can buy pre-ground flaxseed, I keep my flaxseed in a bag and grind it when I need it. Sometimes I sprinkle it in with my oatmeal and yogurt in the morning, and at times I have even included ground flax-seed sprinkled over salad, or mashed potatoes along with some chopped dill.

Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl, ensuring they are well combined. That includes the three tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseed and your cinnamon.

In a small bowl break two eggs and beat them together with the jam, olive oil, vanilla extract. Once you have this mixture well blended add your chopped figs a bit at a time. You want to make sure that the little building blocks of fig all get coated with your mixture of wet ingredients. Once done we move on to making the batter.

Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry to create your batter a little at a time to make sure it becomes one wonderful well mixed mass of ingredients which, in just a short while become your Figgy Oatmeal cookies. The batter will be pretty firm once you have mixed it well enough.

Prepare a cookie sheet. It can either lined with parchment paper, sprayed with your preferred non-stick coating or wiped with a light coating of your favourite cooking oil.

Then you will be scooping your little dollops of dough on to the cookie sheet using a teaspoon as a basic measuring device. You will have to shape your dough on the cookie sheet as they will not change their form during the baking process. Don't be afraid do use your fingers, as long as they are clean. My little mounds were about one and a half to two inches in diameter. Though had I made them smaller I would have been able to avoid doing two batches in the oven. Live and learn.

What's in it for you

When I set out to bake these Figgy Oatmeal Cookies, I was looking for health alternative to store-bought cookies and I think I found one. This snack or desert is very low in sodium and high in dietary fibre and manganese which plays important roles in bone development, skin integrity, blood sugar level control and damage by free radicals. I don't think I have to give you much about the importance of dietary fibre as we do hear a great deal about it in the mainstream media, though these morsels are packed with it.

 

Calories	129	RDA
Carbohydrates	20 g	7 %
Fat	5 g	7%
Saturated	1 g	3%
Polyunsaturated	1.3 g	-
Monounsaturated	2.4 g	-
Trans	0 g	-
Cholesterol	0 mg	0 %
Sodium	62 mg	3 %
Potassium	147 mg	4 %
Dietary Fibre	4 g	14 %
Sugar(s)	5 g	-
Protein	4 g	%
Vitamin A	3.3 IU	0 %
Vitamin C		1 %
Calcium		6 %
Iron		6 %

Other important vitamins and minerals include vitamin K, Choline, Folate, Magnesium and Phosphorus with at about 10% of the RDA and about 13% of daily Selenium requirements.

These Figgy Oatmeal Cookies are simple to make, and you, like I did, can substitute out certain ingredients adding your favourite ones such a pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds, or using other natural sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar.

Bake up a few batches and you can include them in your or kid's lunch without any guilt for feeding them or you eating sodium and sugar packed manufactured goods.

A morning breakfast...

Breakfast, an important meal of the the day, and more than many will imagine. However, I for the last year have always tried to get some fluids in me and some movement in my body before having a true North American type of breakfast. I do this for a few different reasons. The first is to get my system lubricated. Sure it sounds simple, but usually the first thing we want to do in the morning is to urinate and defecate; that is if our systems are working normally. So the first thing i do is gets some fluids into my body.

This morning, I chose some freshly steeped ginger tea from fresh ginger root. The benefits of ginger are numerous, and I am not going to be relating them to you here. I want people who read my blog to think about their choices, and eventually learn as I have how to change their dietary habits. I travelled my journey, and if you are ready travel yours I would appreciate it. We are all very different, but me telling you what my readers need to do is just not mys style!

Yes, this morning was my fifty-first birthday... A year after I had made a decision to change my lifestyle.

Before I went for my nearly 3km walk, I was contemplating on what I could do with oatmeal, and rather than turning to the WWW I went out and looked at what I had in the garden. I thought to myself about what I had and thought how I could incorporate it into a breakfast!

There really wasn't much left in the garden, some beets, and Red Swiss Chard. It was not unusual for me to use the stems and greens of beets during the summer in omlettes; however, this was a bit of a different situation.

I went for my walk through the community I grew up in, and very much aware of the changes that had transpired from my adolesence! When I arrived home, it was certain that I wanted something tasty and out of the ordinary, though at the same time healthy in a number of aspects. Eureka Somehow, I didn't want to simply have oatmeal this morning. I recalled having a baked egg dish when I was visiting with family in Ukraine, so I thought. What kind of baked egg dishes could I have with oatmeal. Though I really did have a hankering for something with a bit of bite on my birthday.

After prancing around the WWW for a bit, I got a few ideas, though what I had in mind was a little more natural in content than what I had seen.

Oatmeal! Spinach! Egg! That wasn't making my consensus of ingredients I had on hand!

So why is it a nice bite?

Because it bites you back to some degree, however, it also provides you with a lot of energy and great things for your body!

While there are only six ingredients and I can guarantee you will get a great boost from such a breakfast.

How to do it!
It's not Rocket Science!

The primary focus is:

• Oatmeal - this can be of either format - quick preparation or slow cook!
• Red Swiss Chard - this can be replaced with either Beet Greens or Spinach.
• Garlic - One big clove - cleaned and chopped up nice and fine. The finer the better - but all is according to taste! :)
• Medium Egg - The healthier the egg, the healthier you are!
  

Cooking mediums: Water for Oatmeal, butter for garlic and egg.

The other things like cinnamon are child's play. The silly stuff - And a parallel world!

Chop your Red Swiss Chard so you have about half a cup... this comes to about two big leaves with their stems.. Don't forget to wash them when you take them from your garden!

Take your one clove of garlic. Clean it in whatever way you know how and chop the clove up into little pieces. If you like bigger pieces that is great. You do want to some degree infuse the butter that you will be frying that egg in in that garlic. However, the best is to make sure that you lay down your egg on those lovely little pieces of garlic that you have browned in the pan. (Personally, I use a small three inch cast iron pan, it works so well!)

When your Oatmeal is nearly half cooked, throw in our Red Swiss Chard. Stir it aound so that it gets in touch with the other food in the bowl. When all is mixed, return it to cooking for its required time.

I hope you have cooked your oatmeal in a bowl you can live with?

During this period you are watching your egg frying with your selected chunks of garlic. You have the choice to turn it or not. It's up to you! Just like it was up to you how important is was to cut those pieces of garlic!

When your Oatmeal is ready, with the other things you have thrown in there;placed yor fried egg with that wonderful garlic on top of your Oatmeal...

Yes, I don't have a picture of my first attempt, but I think I will love to see such attempts. You will love the food and I hope you share the pictures.