Sorry, I've been meaning to get your recipes but I've been slammed lately with a sick puppy and house construction. Quickly here are my thoughts on your last post:

1. Whole wheat flour actually has a higher gluten count then regular flour which should make the cookies denser/heavier. However, I was thinking this weekend that what you may want to try is replacing a portion of the normal flour with quinoa flour (can usually be found in whole foods or the natural section of most supermarkets) since it's a "superfood" and considered one of the best sources of complete veggie protein. I would start by maybe using 3/4 normal flour to 1/4 quinoa to see how it works

2. If the baking powder or baking soda is off then you'll definitely change the consistency of the cookie. Assuming you kept those the same, my guess is that the added water may have been too much as water will make baked goods "puff up." If you want to keep the soy powder my suggestion would be to either use a little extra milk as opposed to water, mix the soy powder with the milk and then combine it with the cookie ingredients or add some soy powder to some milk and brush it over the top of the cookie before it goes in to bake (though this will make the tops brown faster so keep an eye on them).

3. Keeping in mind that I don't cook with soy powder in our commercial kitchen, my guess is that there's a chance the soy powder is the cause of the fluffiness. Though the only reason I say that is that I've seen what soy powder does to my smoothies which is why, if you want to keep it in the recipe, I may try adding it to the top of the cookie instead so as not to totally impact the structure of the cookie itself.

Baking really is a science whereas savory cooking is much more of an art. Sadly, we pastry chefs can't just throw things together and hope it'll work out - it's all very careful measuring and A LOT of trial and error. We make up for the artistic portion with the fact that we can use a pastry bag to decorate things like no body's business. ;)

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
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Thank you! Great info. I always knew baking was tough, probably why I don't have the patience for it. Too exact. But the results sure are yummy!

Looks like I'd better go finish off the ones I made so I can move on to experimental batch #2!

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Hey, I'd LOVE to have the recipe if you're willing to share... or even maybe experiment along with you?
I love to bake and cook.

Not exactly the same thing, but I have a favorite 'healthy muffins' recipe I'd share if anybody wants it.

They are very easy to make.

i'd love it...i love muffins but avoid them due to fat and calaries. :)

Here is my base recipe. The measurements are weird because I reduced it so it wouldn't make 4 dozen. The changes I made that caused this batch to fail is that I used whole wheat flour, added soy powder and probably added too much water to account for the soy powder. Even my husband wasn't thrilled so these may be a total loss. I'm going to try another batch on Friday and make the changes lilpups suggested.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup and 2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1-1/2 cups and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I'm going to pull this out next time)
1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons canola oil
3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon prune puree (I used apple baby food)
2-1/2 teaspoons water
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter Chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center and pour in the canola oil, apple puree, water, egg whites and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Stir in the chips. Scoop cookies using an ice cream scoop, or roll into golf ball sized balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets and flatten to 1/2 tall with wet hands. These cookies do not flatten very much while baking.
In the preheated oven, bake 8 minutes for chewy cookies 10 to 12 minutes for dry cookies. Cookies will not get crisp. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

The following recipe was found in Chris Carmichael's "Fitness Cookbook." I have made some changes and additions to it.

OAT BRAN MUFFINS

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1 c. oat bran
1 c. whole wheat flour (*orig recipe calls for regular unbleached flour but the WW works fine!)
1/4 c. wheat germ (*my addition. Lots of Vit E and B vitamins)
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c. currants

WET INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 c. milk (*I use whole raw milk or kefir. More caloric but better for you than skim or lowfat. Do what you want.)
1/3 c. maple syrup (*sometimes I add a tiny bit of molasses, too, for the iron)
2 TBSP melted butter (*orig recipe calls for 3 TBSP canola oil, which IMO isn't great for you)
1 large egg
Healthy additions: Flax seeds, chopped walnuts, chopped bananas, other fresh or dried fruit (*my additions). Note: Browning bananas can be put in the freezer and saved for this recipe; remove them from the freezer and melt them with the butter.


1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in the other.
3. Now combine them all together.
4. Grease muffin tins and fill to 3/4 from the top.
5. Bake for 20-25 min. (Test to see if a knife comes out clean)

I organize the muffins into quart-size ziplock bags in the freezer, removing one freezer bag at a time.

Because of the high fiber content and some fat content, these muffins are better for recovery or snack foods, rather than as workout fuel.

The more experienced bakers among us can confirm or deny, but I've heard you can substitute applesauce for oil in muffin recipes. There's a fat-free muffin I get in Seattle that does this, but I have no idea what the ratio is...

It's the yummiest muffin ever, if I ever figure out how to make them it's going to be serious bad news. (For the Seattle folk, it's at Uptown Espresso in Lower Queen Anne... )

M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves

Here's a sorta similar recipe from Cooking Light. My husband goes totally crazy when I make these. They are best hot out of the oven. I really like the idea of adding pb chips and ground flaxseed... and I've been thinking about subbing half the flour with whole-wheat. I may be doing some baking tonight!

Chocolate-Oatmeal Hermits

Makes 24

Ingredients:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at high speed of a mixer until well-blended. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well. Add to sugar mixture, stirring just until oats mixture is moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by level tablespoons onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool on wire racks.

Nutritional Information:

Per cookie: CALORIES 84 (38% from fat); FAT 3.5g (sat 0.9g,mono 1g,poly 1.3g); PROTEIN 1.6g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 12mg; SODIUM 30mg; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 0.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 11.8g.

True. You can substitute applesauce. I use to sub applesauce in my oatmeal cookies -- very yummy! Will see if I can find the ratio that ended up the best. I know that I found out by some trial & error. Can't say any of them came out bad... pretty good taste testing experiment. ;-)

sounds great...will have to give it a try one those days i feel to bake :)

I also LOOOOVE chewy cookies. I saw this episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown describes the differences and science behind thin, chewy and puffy cookies. Heres a link to the three recipes.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/...D_9956_17114,00.html
The recipes do not describe the science behind the cookie type, but you may be able to modify the chewy one to your liking.

The episode (probably more helpful to you than the recipes) will replay on Apr. 22nd at 11:00 ET/PT it says. Check the link for other replay dates. It was called "Three chips for sister Marsha." That may help you understand how to get the cookie you want from the recipe you have.

Good luck! Have fun getting it "just right"!! And share it with us when you do-
Cheers-
Margaret
http://trainingmo.blogspot.com