Mini Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok...so the raisin cookies yesterday didn't meet the peanut butter craving I have been having so even with tons of cookies in the house I just had to make these cookies. I love peanut butter but the last cookies I made were pretty dry so I needed something different. These cookies were no drier than I would expect from a peanut butter cookie but they were made with Splenda and light butter which I think normally leads to drier baked goods.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1.5 tbsp apple sauce
• 1/2 c peanut butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbs Splenda
• 2 tbs egg beater
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the Splenda and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.
   
4. Use a teaspoon to measure out dough and roll into balls. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 8 minutes.

Makes 38 mini cookies - calories per cookie - 30

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have done so much baking recently. I just love the smell of sweet things cooking in my oven. These cookies were the result of a bad day that I was hoping to make better with a little something sweet and homemade. These cookies fit the bill. Besides, while I really wanted peanut butter, Miles much prefers these cookies.

Ingredients:

• 8 tbsp light butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 3/4 cup Spenda
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Soak raisins in warm water for 10 minutes.
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.
   

Makes 38 mini cookies: calories per cookie - 32

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

I have had a craving for peanut butter cookies for a long time. I haven't had peanut butter since I started losing weight 10 months ago. I love peanut butter but it has so many calories and while it is good fat it is still fat. Trust me, I get enough fat in my diet without peanut butter.

Earlier today I made little raspberry cookies for miles that had only 20 calories a cookie. I figured I could tinker this recipe a little to make it peanut butter chocolate instead of raspberry chocolate. It took a lot more tinkering than I imagined and this cookies have 10 more calories a cookie than the raspberry but when we are talking about 30 calories total that is a lot more. In the end they were totally worth it as they met my craving and now I can move on...maybe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
  
• 3 tbsp Splenda
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1.5 tbsp light butter melted
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 2-3 tbsp water
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix adding more water if needed to get a crumbly but manageable dough. Dough will be very dry.
3. Smash into small flat disks. Bake for 7-8 minutes.
   

Makes 18 cookies - calories per cookie - 32

Raspberry Chocolate Cookies

These little gems are adapted from 17 and baking - my new favorite teenage blogger. This girl is amazing. Not only is she from Seattle, my long last city, but she is in school, a teenager, and has a beautiful blog. She is very talented.

At only 20 calories a cookie these might be my new favorite cookie to make. Of course they had to give me some problems at first but I think I worked out the kinks. You should know that cooking with apple sauce and splenda as substitutes will result in much drier cookies. Next time I will use 1 tbsp light butter in place of some of the apple sauce to make these even better.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp raspberry jelly
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 1.5 tbsp apple sauce (next time I will use 1 tbsp butter and possibly make up the difference with a little extra jelly)
  
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, Splenda, salt, and baking soda. Add jelly, apple sauce, and both extracts.
3. Mix until combined and move into the freezer to cool for 10 minutes. This step was not in the original recipe but it made the dough much more manageable.
4. Remove from freezer and roll into tiny, slightly larger than a marble, sized balls. Sprinkle with sugar. Sugar the bottom of a glass and flatten the cookies.
5. Bake for 8 minutes.

Makes 18 cookies - calories per cookie - 20

Snickerdoodles

I wanted a none chocolate cookie so I decided to make snickerdoodles. My first attempt didn't go so well. I am still getting used to cooking with applesauce, splenda, and light butter. Sometimes making lower calorie switches just doesn't pan out.

This time I used a sugar cookie recipe from Delish-Blog but because snickerdoodles are supposed to have cream of tartar I doubled the baking powder called for in the recipe. I also used Splenda and light butter. These turned out MUCH better than last time. I might even go for an all Splenda cookie next time...if I can be brave enough.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Splenda Granulated "sugar"
• 1 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) Light butter, softened
• 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

• Sugar and cinnamon mixture (about 2 tbsp each)

Directions:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl
3. Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and the egg and mix until well incorporated.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Using wet palms roll into 1-2 tbs sized dough balls. Roll the dough balls in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Place on a silpat and flatten slightly.
5. Cook for 10 minutes.

Makes 12 cookies: Calories per cookie - 100

Coconut Macaroons

Miles introduced me to coconut macaroons about 10 months ago. We bought a container of macaroons from Trader Joes and made the mistake of opening the container while in the car on the way home. I had eaten five before I looked at the nutrition information on the top of the container. I don't remember exactly how many calories each coconut macaroon ended up being but I remember being blown away at how high calorie they were despite being so very yummy. I have been wanted coconut macaroons ever since but I haven't been able to bring myself to get them.

Thanks to the trusty internet I was sure that I could find a recipe that at the very least I could adapt to make a lower calorie version of these sinfully delicious treats. I am a huge fan of checking reviews for recipes and I often choose to make the best rated version of any recipe. Tons of websites also have reviews from wonderful people explaining ways to make the original recipe better. Well, the best rated recipes all seemed to contain an entire can of sweetened condensed milk. Talk about calorie dense...condensed milk is about as bad as it gets.

And this is when I happened upon a blog with a recipe from America's Taste Kitchen. Now one of my good friends is always raving about America's Taste Kitchen so I thought this recipe would surely taste good. Like always I used the lowest calorie/fat options I could find. Below is my version of this amazing recipe. The link above will take you to the original version.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 bag (4.4 oz) reduced fat, finely shredded unsweetened coconut (I used Lets go...Organic)
• 6 large egg whites (I used egg substitute egg whites)
• 12 packets of Splenda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 6 oz dark chocolate for dipping (if desired)
  

Directions:

1. Using a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add Splenda, almond extract and salt. Continue mixing with the hand mixer for about 30 seconds...or until well blended.
2. Mix in coconut (both kinds) using a spoon. Once mixed used the hand mixer to fluff the coconut and ensure it is well mixed. "Dough" will look like coconut and not like a dough.
   
3. Refrigerate for 15 min. while preheating the oven to 375 degrees.
4. Spoon one heaping tablespoon of the fluffy mixture into your palm. Squeeze the mixture while shaping it into a tight ball. Place about macaroons about 1 inch apart on a silicon baking sheet.
   
5. Cook for 15 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet.
6. If desired, melt good quality dark chocolate in the microwave and dip cooled macaroons into the chocolate.
   

Makes 40 macaroons: 40 calories each without chocolate. 55 calories with bottom dipped in chocolate.

Double Chocolate Mint Cookies

After deciding not to do anything special for Valentine’s Day I changed my mind and ended up wanting to cook dinner with Miles. I spent hours working on the menu the night before and had everything figured out: Steaks over a bed of spinach and feta cheese, orzo on the size and chocolate lava cakes for dessert.

So on Valentine’s Day I realized that I didn't really want to make chocolate lava cakes for dessert. While I love me some lava cakes I have made them a couple of times recently and they just didn't feel like having them again. So off to the internet I went looking for a new dessert idea. Miles had asked for chocolate so chocolate he was going to get. I finally stumbled across these cookies (from Martha Stewart) and with a few edits I had my recipe. I cut it in half and used a Splenda/sugar combo. I also used dark chocolate instead of the milk chocolate that was in the original recipe. Miles loves mint so a little mint extract and these cookies went from chocolate to minty chocolate heaven.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 2 ounces dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli Twilight Delight 72%) cut into 1/4-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (I used Land -o - Lakes Light butter)
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 packets of Splenda
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon mint extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Melt 2 ounces chocolate chips with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly.
2. Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl and whisk gently until combined. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks.
3. Refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
4. Using a spoon, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are puffy and surfaces crack, about 13 minutes (cookies should be soft). Let cool. Cookies will flatten out as they cool.
   

Makes 14 cookies - slightly smaller than palm sized - calories per cookie = 108