Looking for really tasty, yet healthy cookie or bar recipes

[saintp]

Hi. I am looking for tried and true, favorite recipes for "healthy" cookies. As an example, I've been baking these Trail Mix cookies out of the Love Soup cookbook for a while now. Fairly good for you (lots of oats, dried fruit, nuts...i add in some wheat germ) while still very tasty (some chocolate chips and 2 sticks of butter!). So I am not necessarily searching for the healthiest cookie, but rather for something that I can give to my girls in their lunch boxes and feel good about it. Thanks so much!!!

[HillJ]

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/02/...

A tad more time consuming and grown up is this recipe. Which is sensational!

[HillJ]

http://www.makeandtakes.com/banana-ch...
If you like bananas these cookies are moist & chewy and delicious breakfast cookies. I break them up and add em to Greek yogurt. I usually use a large ice cream scoop and bake each batch for 20 mins for large cookies.

I've been a long time fan of 101 cookbook bar recipes including Nikki's cookie. DL also has a chewy date nut bar on his site that is fabulous.

Happy baking.

[blinknoodle]

What do you consider healthy? I have a great chocolate mint cookie recipe made with black beans (no flours). It also uses coconut oil and you can't even tell there are black beans in it! Otherwise, you could look into homemade larabars or other treats made with dates. I like Nikki's cookies, too, and made a version with raisins, ginger and walnuts that was really good, too.

__
http://tastespace.wordpress.com

[saintp]

I guess I asked this question because I like to give my kids a treat that is not out of a box (although I do that too sometimes) and that I know what went into it. I just need some new ideas other than the trail mix cookies that i mentioned and homemade granola bars (Ina Garten....really good). Also, i like "treats" that are high in fiber and low(er) in sugar. I have a sweet tooth myself and like snacking on things that fill me up and are sweet at the same time.

[greygarious]

Google "Nikki's Healthy Cookies", a vegan recipe. I am as far from vegan as they come, but I do look for high-fiber baked goods that don't instantly spike blood sugar. These are really very good. I add one egg, to make them sturdier, which helps when they are part of a carry-along lunch.

Oatmeal cookie recipes that are on the oatmeal canisters maximize the amount of oats in the cookie so they are a good place to look. Also, this type of cookie is perfect for subbing White Whole Wheat flour for ALL of the regular flour. WWWF has a milder taste than standard WW
so your kids will not detect a difference.

I recently made the Rose of Persia cake. It's not suited for your current purpose but I mention it because it contains chickpea flour (besan if you are looking in an Indian market). This cake had a fine, even crumb without a detectable difference from wheat flour. It has prompted me to sub besan for up to half of the wheat flour in recipes.

[saintp]

thanks for the tip on Nikki's cookies. that sounds like something i'm looking for. i like that it uses coconut oil, as i've been trying to incorporate it a bit more into our diet, without doing stir fries every day.

[magiesmom]

you can always sub coconut oil for butter in cookies .

[katecm]

I make the Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal recipe, substituting mashed banana for the butter and making them larger than called for. They come out almost cakey, and one is a perfect serving as a sort of breakfast bar.

Also, these David Lebovitz bars are fantastic. You can use any fruit and nut that you want, and you can play around with chocolate, coconut, etc.: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/03/...

[prima]

The Lebovitz fruitcake bars like a good way for me to use some of the walnuts and almonds I didn't end up using at Xmas.