Pecan Maple Cookies

In looking for new recipes, I stumbled upon these for Pecan Maple Breakfast Cookies from 100 Days of Real Food:

                                                                     Pecan Maple Breakfast Cookies
                                                                     Yield: 20 cookies
                                                                     Ingredients
                                                                     •  1 cup whole-wheat flour
                                                                     •  ¾ cup rolled oats
                                                                     •  ½ teaspoon baking soda
                                                                     •  ¼ teaspoon salt
                                                                     •  ¼ cup applesauce
                                                                     •  3 tablespoons maple syrup
                                                                     •  2 tablespoons butter, softened but not melted
                                                                     •  1 egg
                                                                     •  ½ teaspoon vanilla
                                                                     •  ½ cup chopped pecans
                                                                     Directions

                                                                     1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a cookie sheet.
                                                                     2. Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.
                                                                     3. In a separate bowl using an electric mixer beat the applesauce, maple syrup, butter, egg,

                                                                     and vanilla.
                                                                     4. While beating the mixture on a low speed add the dry ingredients until well blended.
                                                                     5. Fold in the nuts with a spatula.
                                                                     6. Drop onto prepared cookie sheet with a spoon.

                                                                     7. Bake for 8 – 9 minutes or until they start to brown.

 

They looked and sounded good, with no processed sugar (or anything for that matter). I gave them a go this morning. My first attempt, I put them in muffin pans. Using the exact measurements given, they came out kind of flavorless, bland and not sweet. They were also a little dense. This may be because I used the muffin pans instead of a cookie sheet.

 

I must admit, I was rather annoyed. How could all these ingredients create such a dud? Plus the original writer's family loved them so they must work a little, right? With it being a weekend, L1 was playing with Daddy and L2 was amazingly content so I decided to try again.

 

This time I changed the amount of maple syrup to 3/8 cup or 6 TBSP and upped the vanilla to 1 TBSP (maybe a little more since I eyeball it. Please note: all vanilla that I use is homemade so the strength may vary, even with store bought brands. Plus I love vanilla.) Because it had more liquid, I added another 1/4 cup of the oats as well. I had used up all my pecans so I used about 3/4 cup of almond meal for the nutty flavor. The batter was much moister so I had to increase the baking time to 12 minutes.

 

The second batch was a huge success. They are light, nutty and maple sweet. I am not sure why the original recipe didn't work for me, perhaps because I use dark amber syrup (less sweet but more maple flavor) but the maple flavor still should have come through. Either way, these small tweaks made it perfect for us. I love finding new recipes.

 

If anyone else has tried the original recipe, let me know what you think, maybe it's just me and my love of a strong maple flavor.

 

On a completely side note, I love the idea behind this blog of eating no processed food. It is something we strive for here. The kids don't eat any but I will admit that my husband and I can often be caught eating a candy bar here or some other processed sweet after they have gone to bed. Maybe I can find some other recipes to add to our collection.

This article was shared on The Chicken Chick