So, check the recipe out after the break and let me know what you think. Oh, and this time I remembered to take pictures of everything!

Oatmeal Spent Grain Cookies

 
Makes 20 – 24 large cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups spent grains
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins, or chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in spent grains, oats, nuts and cranberries/raisins/chocolate chips (if using).

 
 
 
 
Using an ice cream scoop, measure out and place the cookie batter on a slightly greased cookie sheet, leaving about 2″ between each cookie. Once you’ve filled the sheet, wet your fingers and gently press the batter down until the cookies are about 1/2″ thick.
 
 
 
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies is golden brown and the center is still a bit moist and soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet a couple of minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
 
 
 
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 171 Calories; 11g Fat (56.8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 16g carbohydrate*; 1g Dietary Fiber; 29mg Cholesterol; 92mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch)*; 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

* The carbs from the spent grains aren’t included because I have never really been able to find out a general “rating” for spent grains, as there are so many variables.

I was in a real predicament yesterday. My son’s school is having a bake sale on Saturday to raise money for Aid In Milan, a charity that helps people in need in our city. I was going to bake two loaves of sourdough bread for them, but unfortunately, something nasty got into my starter and infected it. I figured better safe than sorry and threw it all out, but that means I have to get the starter going again from scratch. Without the starter, I couldn’t make the sourdough bread. And worse, we’re out of shortening, butter and margarine (or at least in the quantities needed for baking). So what was I going to do?

I’ve seen recipes for making brownies out of a cake mix, so I wondered if it was possible to make cookies out of boxed cake mix. As you may have guessed by now, it is possible.

This recipe (below the break) made 50 small cookies, after the obligatory tasting during the baking of them. It could easily be adapted to use with just about any cake mix out there. I’m considering trying it with a spice cake recipe and using pumpkin puree instead of oil, and sending those to my kids’ classes for their Hallowe’en parties. You can find the original recipe at AllHomeMadeCookies.com (it’s Cake Mix Cookie #2).

Devil’s Food Cake Cookies

Yields about 4 dozen cookies

1 box Devil’s Food Cake mix
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 /2 cup oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, blending well. If the mixture is too stiff, add a little water. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute before removing from the cookie sheets.

Double Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

Makes around 44 cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups unsalted butter — room temperature
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
10 ounces white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly spray your cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

Put butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in another mixing bowl. Mix on high until well blended and creamy, about 5 minutes.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and stir until blended. Add in chocolate chips and stir.

Place about 1/3 of a cup of the dough per cookie (or one large ice cream scoop), making sure to leave at least two inches between each cookie because they will spread.

Bake for 12 minutes or until firm to touch. When you remove them from the oven, let them sit for at least five minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 221 Calories; 11g Fat (43.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 29g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 42mg Cholesterol; 140mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter — room temperature
2 each eggs — room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth.

Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. It should have the consistence of cookie batter. Spread evenly in baking pan.

Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 322 Calories; 13g Fat (36.4% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 48g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 61mg Cholesterol; 337mg Sodium.

Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

Below is the recipe I followed. After the recipe, I’ll write what I did, and what my thoughts were.

Nutty Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups spent grains (or alternatively, 1.5 cups of your favourite grain meal, prepared and still wet)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix in the peanut butter, regular butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda and salt. Once that’s all mixed, stir in the nuts and chips.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 425F for 8-10 minutes until the tops are just getting golden, but before the bottoms burn. Let sit on the pan for about five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Serve with love.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies after batter sampling.

First, the changes I made from the original recipe. I discovered, to my horror, that I was out of butter. This really wasn’t a surprise, as I stocked up on butter months ago when it was on sale for less than $2/lb. Instead, I used margarine. The Omnomicon’s Aleta Meadowlark said the recipe she based hers on used oil, but I didn’t want to do oil. Margarine got used.

I will definitely make these again, with the following changes: use mini chips, so the chocolate gets spread more evenly through the dough; and cut the walnuts into smaller pieces (for the same reason as the chips). Matt used Victory malt, so I’ll use that until it’s gone, and then see how the flavors differ from grain to grain.