Oatmeal Raisin Energy Cookies

by Bryan on 6/19/2009 at 11:44 AM in Eats and Drinks

The other day the boys and I got the taste for something sweet, but we didn’t have anything in the house, so I suggested that we make some cookies. Of course they thought that was a great idea, and I went to work finding a recipe and gathering ingredients.

The cookie of choice was oatmeal raisin, because that’s my favorite, and we didn’t have any chocolate chips. Fortunately we had plenty of oats, and raisins, but the only two eggs were about a month past their expiration date. I went ahead and cracked them open, just to see if they were still good, and while they didn’t stink, I decided not to use them.

Here we are with all of the ingredients except eggs. I really didn’t want to go to the store, so I searched (binged, not googled) for egg substitutes in baking. Among other things, I found a site that said I could use ground flax seed mixed with warm water as a substitute for the eggs. I thought “hey, we’ve got that!” And I set off mixing some flax seed and water, and making the cookie batter.

Before I added in the oats and raisins, I asked the boys and Julie if I should add in some peanut butter. They all agreed that I should, so I did (note: I didn’t substitute it for anything else, which I would do next time). I then added the oats and raisins, spooned the mixture out onto a cookie sheet, and went about baking the cookies, sampling a healthy portion of dough along the way.

The dough tasted good, so I was optimistic that the cookies would taste good, too. I was not disappointed. There was a hint of the peanut flavor, and some added nuttiness from the flax seed, and the texture was spot on. If I didn’t tell you that these were egg-less cookies, you would probably never know. The boys even loved them.

So there you have it, my oatmeal raisin energy cookies. I used the recipe off of the Quaker Oats container, adding a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, and substituting ground flax seed mixed with water for the two eggs. I also used the “baking” Splenda, instead of regular white sugar. The next time I make these, I will leave out some of the butter for the peanut butter, and I might experiment with some different dried fruit.

Let me know if you try your hand at these, or something similar.