Healthy Tasty Chowcleaner recipes, reviews and food chatter

Please forgive my cheesy picture above…  I couldn’t find one online of the package so I figured I’d let you see it.  I’ve been under the weather recently, and usually that means my stomach feels gross and the usual foods just don’t sound that great.  I haven’t felt like cooking and these are one of the only foods that sounds good right now. 

These animal cookies melt in your mouth tasting somewhat like a better, crisper version of a shortbread cookie.   They’re pretty addicting though so maybe it’s a good idea to portion some out for yourself.  However, I usually just go for it if I’m going to eat them.  My son gets these as an occasional treat and loves them.  Usually, it is one of the only things he feels like when he’s sick.  Something about them seem to calm down your tummy when nothing else sounds good.  When we go out and people give him the usual animal cookies/crackers as a  snack, he thinks he’s getting these and excitedly takes a bite.  Then he realizes it’s a bland version of what he thought it was going to be and literally just sticks his tongue out and lets it fall to the ground until every last bit is out of his mouth.  It’s actually pretty embarrassing.  It just happened at the local library after toddler storytime.  At some point, I hope he understands that he needs to spit food into a napkin if he doesn’t like it!  I’ve also turned quite a few of my friends onto this brand.  I will say, the Costco Disney organic ones aren’t as bad as the rest, but they don’t taste quite as good as these either.  However, they are MUCH cheaper!

I never liked the usual animal cookies/crackers as a kid.  I never developed the taste for them as an adult.  And then, looking at the ingredients on most animal cookies made for children, it usually goes something like this: enriched flour, sugar, partially hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup…  There are quite a few brands that we all know and basically, those are the main ingredients. 

ingredients:  organic enriched unbleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), organic dehydrated cane juice, organic expeller pressed canola and/or sunflower and/or soybean oil, organic invert sugar, sea salt, baking soda, organic vanilla extract.

Not too bad!  If you’re going to indulge in some animal cookies, you may as well get these instead.  They taste so much more satisfying and the ingredients are definitely less-bad for you than the popular brands.

I made this cookie recipe because I really wanted to use coconut oil in cookies for the heavier consistency factor - like back when our moms used to throw butter flavored Crisco in cookies and they always tasted the best with the chewy heartier texture?  With what I know now, I would never buy shortening to use in my foods and feed to my family.  We are coconut lovers and the added coconut flavor from the coconut oil is a welcome change.  If you don’t like coconut or if you have coconut allergies - you can just buy some organic shortening which is made of palm oil and is trans-fat free.  These cookies are flourless!  By using coconut oil, spelt flour, ground flaxseed, and oats, you’re getting a much healthier version and a  tasty treat.  If you really wanted a cleaner eating version of the cookie, you can always substitute agave nectar for the sugar.  If you wanted a lighter version, you could also substitute applesauce for the butter.  However, I like using at least a few traditional ingredients in baking because it usually lends to a better flavor!

• 1/4 cup organic butter, softened
• 1/8 cup extra virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter and coconut oil together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat well. Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, combine spelt flour, flaxseed, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture, then stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Drop a heaping teaspoon of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

This makes a small batch of around 35 little cookies.  I prefer these cookies cooled because the coconut flavor comes out!  Also, these are toddler and husband approved!  My husband is fairly picky on healthy versions of cookies but lately I’ve gotten much better at it that he doesn’t know he’s eating a healthy version… except he knows I made them so he does know deep down:)