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Thursday, February 23, 2012

Chocolate Chili Mango Oatmeal Cookies

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When the going gets tough, the tough make cookies. Seriously, though. This has been a week. And that’s all I’ll say about that. And despite the fact that I have had zero time to do absolutely anything this week (like, you know, go to the grocery store or unpack my suitcase from this weekend or even take my nail polish off, for goodness sake), I found myself in the kitchen whisking flour and whipping up batter late tonight. I knew I shouldn’t. I had hours of work to do and about a zillion phone calls to make and emails to respond to. But I needed the quiet alone time. And being in the kitchen calms me. It clears my head and keeps me grounded and makes me feel like me. And I needed that tonight. Blogging has the same affect. Thank goodness for this little place in the universe; I just can’t imagine my life without it.

Anyway, on to the cookies. I spotted Chili Spiced Mangos in Trader Joe’s, I knew they would make the perfect cookies. I wanted to try something on the healthy side, so I used whole wheat flour and rolled oats. And obviously added chocolate chips. Because what’s a cookie without them?

Chocolate Chili Mango Oatmeal Cookies (makes about 2 dozen):
Print this recipe!

1 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/3 C canola oil
2/3 C brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 T vanilla
1/2 C rolled oats
1/2 C chili spiced mangos, chopped
1/4 C chocolate chunks (or chips)

(pre-heat oven to 350 degrees)

Chili Spiced Mango may seem like a weird cook add-in, but I love a little bit of spice and thought these could make a potentially bland healthy cookie super fun and flavorful.

Don’t they look delicious? Basically dried mangos with cayenne pepper. Heavenly.

I chopped up about 1/2 C of the mango.

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Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the canola oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. I started with 2 eggs, but after some of the cookies turned out slightly dry, I decided to add a third and they were much more moist.

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Stir the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients until just combined and then stir in mango and chocolate chunks.

Chocolate chips are good, but aren’t chocolate chunks so much better? Or maybe that’s just me.

Roll 1-2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and place on parchment or Silpat-covered baking sheet.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until just browned.

And enjoy! The flavors in these cookies were fabulous, though to be honest, the chili wasn’t quote overwhelming enough for me. Next time I might mix some cayenne into the cookies for a little more kick.

But these may just become my new go-to cookie. They’re pretty healthy and, to be honest, you can tell in the taste. I did, after all, make them 100% with whole wheat flour. You can mix with all-purpose if you want. But I loved the healthy taste of these and the way the chocolate and spicy mango offset it.

Cookies I don’t have to feel guilty about eating. Which is a very good thing since all I want to do this week is stuff my face with cookies. Now, if only that Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream I face planted into last night was healthy. Oops.

Maybe if I eat a batch of these, it will offset all my other poor food choices this weekend… One can hope. And at least I’ll have fun doing it.

OK, back to work for me! The good news is, tomorrow is Cocktail Friday! I’ll be working most of the weekend and baking 100 cupcakes for High and Mighty’s Don Cornelius launch party (details to come!), but at least I’ll be home. Hopefully with a cocktail (or 20) in hand. Phew. And if baking a couple dozen cookies made me feel better, imagine what baking 100 cupcakes will do??

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful dad! I can’t wait to celebrate with him next weekend!

Does being in the kitchen calm you?

[Sues]

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Related Posts: Healthy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, Hot Cocoa Cookies, Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies, S'mores Cookie Bars, Fudge Stripes Cookies,

Labels: chili, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookie, cookies, mango, oatmeal, oatmeal cookie, spicy

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Bircher Muesli

In so many ways, I really am a creature of habit. But that also means I’m the Queen of overdoing it. Meaning, I find a food I like and I eat it and eat it and eat it. Until I do not like it anymore. Usually, I just need a good, healthy break before I can go back with all my previous enthusiasm. But this often puts a damper on life. Especially in terms of breakfast, which, I do not like to think about too much (I’m a zombie in the morning). I need easy, filling, and palatable for first thing in the AM.

Foods I have overdone in my life:

Lasagna (4th grade. 5 times in one week. Ruined it for years)
Cupcakes (seriously, I need to take cupcake breaks every now and then or they just don’t sound appealing to me. Balance is key here)
Pumpkin (again, I KNOW. That’s why I pledge to only eat pumpkin from September-December. I never want to be sick of it again)
Power Bars (in high school, I ate a Power Bar with Gatorade and coffee for breakfast every day. No, I wasn’t really an athlete. And I think one day I just realized that Power Bars are actually gross. Never got sick of Gatorade or coffee…)
Laughing Cow Cheese (got over that one pretty quickly, but yeah, I ate a lot of these little cheesy delights)
Candy Corn (it happens every Halloween)
Turkey sandwiches with swiss cheese on whole wheat bread (standard lunch… and bored)
English muffins with peanut butter

Let’s focus on those English muffins for a moment. Every since I started my office job, I’ve been eating one pretty much every morning. And it got to the point where I found no joy in eating breakfast. In fact, what I felt was the opposite of joy. I legit had to force the English muffin down. Because I knew I would be starving if I didn’t. Ugh. A change had to be made! And that change came in the form of oats. Which is the form I least suspected.

I’ve never been the kind of person to get excited about oatmeal. Boringgg. Sure, you can dress it up, but what’s that they say about putting lipstick on a pig? However, bircher muesli? Totally different story. I had it for the first time at Au Bon Pain years ago and would buy it every time I found myself in a random Au Bon. I found myself thinking about it a couple weeks ago and decided I needed to attempt my own. I looked up the basic ingredients in Au Bon’s bircher muesli, but then added a ton of my own and I dare say it tastes even better than I remember it. I’m in love.

Bircher Museli (serves about 4):
Print this recipe!

1.5 C rolled oats
1/2 C bran
1/4 C flaxseed
2 C skim milk
1 C dried fruit (I used dates, cranberries, and apricots)
1/3 C nuts (I used walnuts and almonds)
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t honey
1/4 C Greek yogurt
1/2 C unsweetened apple juice
1 apple (I like macintosh)

This recipe is so fun because you can do pretty much whatever you want to it. I’ve already made it 4 times (what? I swear I won’t overdo it!) and have done it a little differently each time depending on what ingredients I had on hand and what mood I was in. If you feel like more bran or flax, add more bran or flax. If you have a completely different grain you’d like to add, add it.

Start by putting oats, bran, and flax in a big bowl.

Stir in the dried fruit and the nuts. Of course, you don’t have to use dried fruit or nuts, but I think they make it a bit more fun. Part of what I love about Bircher Muesli is all the different textures and consistencies. Mix in the cinnamon, too.

Now, pour the 2 cups of milk into the mixture and stir. Your mixture will probably be a little liquidy, but that’s OK. You want it to be like this because the grains are going to soak all that milk up and get nice and soft. So, now you have to let the mixture sit. I think it works best if you let it sit overnight (and complete the final steps in the morning right before you’re ready to eat), but you definitely need to let it sit for at least 4 hours.

I know. Waiting is painful.

But the next morning, you’ll see how the liquid absorbed and everything is nice and mushy. Yes, I should probably note that you have to like mushy foods to enjoy this. But mushy, with lots of other stuff going on. Like deliciousness.

Now you’re ready to mix in the rest of the ingredients. Like the honey… though I’ll be honest, I haven’t been adding the honey lately… It does add a nice sweetness, but isn’t totally necessary.

But the yogurt and apple juice are! Stir them in. If you feel like you need to add a little less or a little more apple juice in, go for it. You don’t want the mixture to be dry, but you don’t want it to be super liquidy, either. I like when it looks like this:

Don’t forget to grate the apple on top. It’s also delicious if you feel like stirring in a banana.

And there you have it: My ideal breakfast. For now.

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Well, hopefully for a long time because I’m really feeling this one. It’s so much more exciting than a blah English muffin (trust me, I even tried making that English muffin cinnamon raisin and it only helped for 3 days). It’s easy to make ahead of time and really just consists of throwing things into a bowl. It’s also easy to throw in a Tupperware and tote to work.

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And it’s filling; oh so filling! I mean, all those oats, bran, and flax? And dried fruit? Yes, that’s a lot of fiber. Which means you won’t be starving 30 minutes after you eat.

It’s cold, but it’s creamy and comforting first thing in the morning. And it’s definitely going into my breakfast rotation for a long time. And when I say rotation, I mean semi-permanent spot. Or at least until I decide I can stomach an English muffin again. Which might be never. Thank goodness I discovered this delight.

What foods have you overdone it with?

If you have a second and feel like supporting WANM, I’d love it if you’d vote for my Sweet Tea Vodka Cupcakes in Celebrations.com Cupcake Crown contest!! It only takes a second and you can vote every day. And tell all your friends to vote, too! I’d LOVE to win, but it’s a super duper close race. Thank you for being awesome!

[Sues]

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Labels: apple, apple juice, bircher muesli, bran, dried cranberries, dried fruit, flax, nuts, oatmeal, oats

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Bircher Muesli