Lactation Cookies

Don't let the name of these cookies scare you.  They DON'T contain breast milk.  What they do contain, that's out of the ordinary for cookies, is flax seed meal, Brewer's Yeast and thick cut oats.  All of which are super incredibly beneficial for Mom's that are breast feeding!  This is the perfect desert to add to a post-partum dinner delivery, too!

Why are those three ingredients so magical?

Flax seed meal is full of healthy benefits like omega-3s.  Thick Cut Oatmeal (Thick cut oats are similar to the Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, but MUCH thicker and filled with even more iron) and Brewer's Yeast (both are found at Sprouts or Whole Foods type stores)are galactogogues, which have been linked to increased milk production.  There is no scientific study on the ingredients used, but that does not mean they don't help with milk production.  I personally have experienced great benefits after eating just one cookie!

I've had friends and family try these cookies and they get rave reviews!  Who knew something so delicious could be so good for you, too!!!

{lactation cookies}

    makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 c. butter very softened (I used butter flavored Crisco since my baby doesn't like it when I eat diary)

1/4c. water

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 c. flour
3 c. Thick Cut Oats
1/4 c. flaxseed meal
2 T. Brewer’s yeast  (MUST be Brewer's Yeast for milk production)
1 cup chocolate chips, or raisins or chopped almonds, butterscotch chips, etc. (I prefer chocolate chips with toasted chopped almonds)  I also used vegan chocolate chips because of the diary issue and they are so incredible you wouldn't know the difference!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together sugars and butter. Then add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Shape into 2" balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 9-11 min or until edges are browned. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

TWD::Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

This week, our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe comes from Patricia from Life with a Whisk.  I haven't made too many scones in my lifetime.  Especially not the kind you make with your hands.  I'm still not sure if a recipe turns out better because I've gotten in there and used my hands instead of a kitchen appliance.  Though, I have to say, I DO know my appliances pretty darn well and think these scones would have turned out better had I used my food processor.  Then again, I'm having a hard time with recipes turning out in general lately.  With my "bun in the oven" not just my own balance is off, but my baking equilibrium seems to be as well.  Frustrating, to say the least!  

So, as much as I LOVED the flavor in these (I'm a BIG sucker for freshly grated nutmeg..I really do {heart} it), I don't know that I enjoyed the texture of the oats in it.  Call me crazy, but they just seemed like a spice cookie to me.  Maybe I happened to over bake them?  I keep doing that, too.  My oven and I need to get reacquainted.  We've become grossly out of sync!  Sigh.

I did add the drizzle of glaze (powdered sugar, cream and almond flavoring), which just made my taste buds sing!

{oatmeal nutmeg scones recipe}

See how the other TWD bakers fared with their scones (because, really, I'm sure everyone did better than I this  week) by going to the TWD Blogroll.

Or buy yourself a copy of this most incredible book, "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan.  You won't be sorry!!!

TWD::Not Apple, but Zucchini...Crisp?

*Don't forget to enter the Rhodes Giveaway.

You heard me right!  I said Zucchini Crisp.  It's a VERY close relative to the Apple Crisp, but it involves a fun tricky game you get to play on all your unsuspecting friends and family.  

You see, I don't like apple Pie.  Not one bit.  However, I absolutely {HEART} Apple Crisp, BUT only when I get to make it.  Why?  Because, I like to shred my apples.  Yes, as in grated.  I'm crazy like that I guess.  But I just LOVE how each bite combines the perfect amount of topping and apple instead of having the big chunks of apple slices throwing off your apple-to-topping ratio.  

Since today is my Tuesdays with Dorie day I thought I'd combine both!  Thanks to Emily from the Sandmuffin who chose the All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie.  As I'm sure the pie turned out perfectly delicious for everyone, I didn't quite stick to the recipe this week...

Because....as I said in my first zucchini post of the week, I am overflowing with gigantic zucchinis.  Even though I've found that the only good way to freeze zucchini is by shredding/grating them and bagging them, I still like to use some fresh straight from the food processor.  So, with that in mind, I was in the mood for an apple crisp.  Perfect time of year for one, too.  Problem.  In my house we've been devouring apples right and left.  Whole Apples.  Sliced Apples, you name it.  All fresh.  So, since we're on this fresh apple binge, I wanted to save them for actual fresh consumption and decided to play with my zucchini shreds in an unconventional way.  Zucchini Crisp is what came out of it.

I used my original {Perfect Apple Crisp Recipe} and tweaked it a bit to make it fit the Zucchini addition.  If you're feeling a bit squeamish about using zucchini, don't fret.  You can do half apple and half zucchini if you'd like.  But I'm telling you.  NO ONE WILL KNOW!  I served this at an event with a lot of women, one of whom HATES zucchini.  She gobbled it up.  It wasn't until AFTER she was done I told her what it was.  The look on that face....priceless!!!!

{zucchini crisp}
from the kitchen of Lisa Jensen, Gourmified

Zucchini mixture:
10-11c. Zucchini, GRATED (if it's the big hard-skinned kind like I use, be sure to peel the tough green shell off and scrape out the seeds inside)
1/4 c. flour
1c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Topping:
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1c. salted, melted butter
1/2 c. chopped pecans, optional but oh so tasty!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a Large bowl, combine zucchini mixture ingredients.  Mix well & put into greased 9x13 pan.  Mixture will be quite soupy.  This is what the flour will help to thicken. Combine topping ingredients and mix well.  Sprinkle evenly over zucchini.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and sides are bubbly and topping no longer looks doughy.  Allow to cool for 15 min while the juices continue to thicken.

Serve warm with whipping cream or vanilla ice cream.

Oh, and this is definitely an apple crisp photo.  I've made this zucchini crisp recipe a few times now and it gets eaten so quickly that I don't have time to get a picture!  Yikes!  It will look very similar to the Apple Crisp anyway!

To see how the other TWD Bloggers pies turned out check out the TWD Blogroll.  OR if you just want to make this pie for yourself, you can get the recipe by visiting Emily's blog.

{All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie}

What's Next on the Menu?

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

TWD::Chockablock Cookies

This week, our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for Chockablock Cookies was chosen by Mary at Popsicles and Sandy Feet.

The description "everything but the kitchen sink"-would be quite appropriate for this one. Dorie's recipe calls for a variety of dried fruits, chocolate, coconut, nuts, raisins, molasses, oatmeal, etc. I've never really liked Molasses but was pleasantly surprised at how subtle the flavor was and in no way overpowering.

I'm not a big fan of dried fruit, especially in my cookies, but I decided to take Dorie on with these cookies. I used raisins. Probably not the best choice. I should have left them out. I'm sure I would have enjoyed these cookies so much more without the raisins or any dried fruit for that matter.

Oh, lets not forget the bittersweet chocolate chips. I know! I've made friends with the bittersweet chocolate, I think. Or maybe I'm just really getting old and my taste buds just aren't what they used to be...or maybe they're much more refined now. Yes. That's what we'll go with. Refined. In any case. These cookies are good...not great, just good. Their flavor is best when first out of the oven and all the flavors are so ooey gooey together. After they cool completely, the raisins are more pronounced, so not quite as good leftover.

My kids LOVED these cookies. I added a small scoop of ground flax to the mix, hoping to get them to "pass" as a healthy treat. Hm, there I go rationalizing again!

If you'd like to snag this recipe for yourself, grab yourself a copy of Dorie's book, "Baking: From My Home to Yours" or you can head on over to Mary's blog, too. To see how other TWD bloggers fared this week, check out the TWD Blogroll.

TWD::Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

Well, for this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe I think it's the first one I actually made twice before posting!  It is so incredibly good but that's not the reason why.  I've lost my camera.  My new camera. I'm completely devistated.  Granted, it's not a super-dee-duper fancy camera, but we had figured each other out enough so that I could manipulate the settings enough to hopefully make it look like it was.  I've been in mourning for my camera.  Especially since I finally found my charger for my old piece-of-junk camera and just can't get the old one to do what I need it to.  I sincerely apologize for not posting anything sooner, but I hope you understand. 

So, my missing camera is the reason I made this recipe twice in two weeks.  The first time, I was so excited to be prepared and creating a recipe for TWD so early, and that's when I discovered my camera was missing.  And since I couldn't find it or the old camera's charger in time, we ate every last bite. 

It was Uh-MAz-ing!!  I didn't add raisins to either batch, gross!  The first batch was exactly as the recipe called for but without raisins.  The second time, and what these photos are reflecting, I added coconut.  COCONUT!  Only one of the YUMMIEST flavors out there!  I added 1/2 c. to the chocolate gooey goodness, then another 1/2 c. to the top crumbles.  The top pieces were incredible since it ended up toasting a lot of the coconut and what's better than plain coconut!?  TOASTED coconut!  Ah yes! 

I also started a biggest loser contest with a big group of friends and so I only kept about 5 squares for my family and me and the rest I took to work and to another co-BL participant...teeeheee.  It pains me to do that sometimes, like with this recipe.  BUT it is so much more rewarding hearing the praises and compliments and overall joy seen on the faces of those enjoying my concoctions.  THAT is what makes baking so rewarding for me.

If you'd like to make this delicious treat too, head on over to Lillian's blog Confectiona's Realm for a copy of the recipe.  You can also check out what other Tuesdays with Dorie Bloggers baked up by going to the TWD Blogroll.