In the Kitchen - Healthier Oatmeal Cookies!

I have been on a sweet tooth high ever since the holidays ended.  I don't know if I can solely attribute it to being 35 weeks along now.... or that I just love eating sweets!!  And that fact is nothing new!  Either way I have been inspired by a few recipes I have run into that put a healthy twist on regular desserts.  

Tonight is our second child birthing class and I volunteered to bring a snack.  I wanted to bring something that would both satisfy a sweet tooth and provide some nutritional benefits as well.  I decided to go for the Oatmeal Cookie, but change it up a bit!  So here goes... I hope you enjoy!  This recipe is derived from the one found in the lid of any Quaker Oats product.

Blue-Cranberry Oatmeal Bites with Walnuts

7 Tbsp softened butter
6 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp ground Chia seeds + 1/4 c water (or 1 egg)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c spelt flour (or All-Purpose)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 rounded tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c oats (old fashioned or quick)
1/2 c blue-craisins (I am not a fan of raisins!)
1/4 c walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter, brown sugar, and honey together until creamy.  Add vanilla and chia seed mixture, mix well.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Add oats, blue-craisins, and walnuts.  Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and flatten them slightly with your fingertips.  Cook for 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.  Yields approximately 24 one and a half inch cookies.  Allow to cool 2 minutes on sheet and then transfer to cooling rack... or directly into mouth!!  Mmm, and grab a milk!!

For some information on the nutrition of Chia this is a helpful article.  I found that grinding the seeds in a coffee grinder is nice because it only takes a about 5 minutes for the liquid to become gelatinous and you want this to happen before you combine it with the other ingredients.  Also, grinding the seeds makes them invisible in the cookie... leaving them whole they tend to get stuck in your teeth!  After combining the chia seeds and vanilla it will look a little funky:

Beware the dough is delicious!!  And no raw eggs.... sooo... go to town?!

This is only my second time baking with spelt flour instead of all-purpose and I can not even taste a difference!  Here you can read more about spelt if you'd like!

Slightly smooshed with the fingertips.  Please, just ignore my dirty oven!  Guess that's my next project...

2 minutes and counting... gah, this is always the worst part! ... probably should cope with eating some dough.

Little bites of yumminess ready to go to birthing class!