SUGARLESS BANANA-OATMEAL COOKIES
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1/2 cups raisins
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together, beating well. Let mixture set for 5 minutes for oats to absorb moisture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Let stand for 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet. Remove to wire racks to cool.
NO BAKE DATE-OAT BARS
1 pkg (8 oz) pitted dates, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup unsweetened grated coconut
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup Equal Sugar-Lite
2 1/2 cups quick-oats, uncooked
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Non-stick vegetable cooking spray
In a large mixing bowl, combine chopped dates and flour. Toss lightly to coat. Place water in a 1-cup glass measuring cup and microwave on high until boiling. Pour water over dates. Add coconut, butter, and Equal to dates. Mix well. Spray a square baking pan with vegetable spray. Spoon mixture into pan. Cover and refrigerate until set. Cut into 24 bars. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
Note: This is my version of a University of Alabama recipe.
SAND TARTS
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup Splenda, granulated
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tbsp Splenda, granulated
2 tsp cornstarch
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and 1/4 cup Splenda granulated at medium speed with electric mixer about 2 minutes until creamy. Gradually add flour, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in vanilla and pecans. Shape into 1-inch balls and place onto cookie sheets. Bake 20 minutes; remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool.
Process 2 tablespoons Splenda granulated and cornstarch in a blend or food processor. Roll cookie balls in mixture.
Note: I got this recipe from a Splenda card.
CHOCOLATE CHERRY COOKIES
1 (8 oz) pkg sugar-free chocolate cake mix
3 tbsp skim milk
1/2 tsp almond extract
10 maraschino cherries, rinsed, drained and halved
2 tbsp white chocolate chips
1/2 tsp canola oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, beat cake mix, milk and extract with an electric mixer at low speed. When mixture looks crumbly, increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes or until smooth dough forms. (Dough will be very sticky.) Coat hands with cooking spray and shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten each ball slightly. Place cherry half in center of each cookie. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies losse their shine and tops begin to crack. DO NOT OVERBAKE OR COOKIES WILL BE HARD WHEN COOLED. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.
Place chips and oil in a small microwave-safe bowl and cook a few seconds at a time, removing and stirring until chips are melted. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Allow drizzle to set before serving.
RASPBERRY-ALMOND VALENTINE COOKIES
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar substitute
1 tbsp almond extract
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup water
3/4 tsp white vinegar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar-free raspberry preserves
3 tbsp sugar-free "powdered sugar"
In a medium mixing bowl, blend together butter, sugar substitute and almond extract until creamy. Add egg substitute, water and vinegar. Mix well. Add flours, salt and baking powder. Using an electric mixer on low speed, mix until dough is formed. Be sure to scrap sides and bottom of the bowl.
Remove the dough and place on a floured board or work surface. Divide dough into equal halves and round each into a 1-inch-thick flat disc. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 18x12-inch baking pan or cookie sheet. Unwrap dough and roll out on floured board or work surface to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with large heart-shaped cookie cutters. Cut a small heart out of the center of 1/2 the cookies. (Bake small hearts separately and decorate with crushed sugar-free peppermint candies for another purpose.) Place cookies on the prepared pan and bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned on bottom. Cool on a wire rack.
Spread preserves over the whole cookies. Sprinkle "powdered sugar" (see note below) over the cookies with hearts cutout. Place powdered cookies over the preserve cookies to make a sandwich cookie.
NOTE: To make sugar-free powdered sugar, I do the following:
Take 3/4 cup of Splenda Granular or Equal Sugar-Lite and put in blender. Add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch and blend until sugar substitute is ground to a very fine powder. Store in a zip-top plastic bag or an airtight container. Use as you would powdered-sugar on cakes, cookies or other pastries.
Variations: Use strawberry preserves instead of raspberry and vanilla extract instead of almond. For Christmas, crush a sugar-free candy cane and use to sprinkle a little on top of the "powdered sugar" and use whatever flavor of preserves you would like with the peppermint flavor of the crushed candies.
LACE COOKIES
1 egg
1/2 cup Equal Sugar-Lite
1 tsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat egg until light and fluffy. Gradually beat Equal into egg. Add butter and vanilla; combine well. Add oats, pecans and salt. Combine until well blended. Drop batter to make 24 cookies onto a greased baking sheet. Flatten using a knife or small spatula. Bake for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
APPLE-PECAN COOKIES
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup Splenda, granulated
2 tsps freshly grated lemon peel
2 tsps molasses
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup diced fresh apples
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray cookie sheets with vegetable cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, Splenda, lemon peel, and molasses on high speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Combine applesauce and apple juice concentrate; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gradually add to butter mixture alternately with applesauce mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in apples and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls, 1 1/2 inches apart, onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container.
Note: This recipe is modified from a Splenda cookbook.
SPICE COOKIES
6 tbsp vegetable shortening
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup Splenda granular or Equal Sugar-Lite
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
In a large mixing bowl, mix together shortening, butter, sugar substitute, egg substitute and molasses. Put flour and spices into a flour sifter and sift into shortening mixture. Stir to form dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator until firm, approximately 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator. For dough, 1 heaping teaspoon at a time, into balls. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and pat down gently with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern as you would for peanut butter cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. These cookies will look chewy but will crisp up as they cool. Cool on a wire rack.
CHOCOLATE DUNK COOKIES
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
8 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, divided
3/4 cup margarine, softened
2 tbsp firmly packed Splenda brown sugar blend OR 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup SPLENDA granular
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Coarsely chop 5 squares of the chocolate and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar, and SPLENDA with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg substitute and vanilla extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture beating until blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and nuts. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Dough drops should be two inches apart. Bake 11 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheets. Cool completely on wire racks. Melt 3 squares of chocolate in microwave as directed on package. Dip one half of each cookie into the melted chocolate. Place in single layer on waxed paper and let set until chocolate is set.
NO SUGAR ADDED OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 tsp. baking powder
5 packets Sweet 'N Low
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup flour
2 cups raw oats
1/2 cup raisins
Beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and Sweet 'N Low. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Add raisins and oats. Mix well and drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet that's been sprayed with vegetable oil spray. Bake 25 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. NOTE: These cookies freeze well.
THUMB PRINT COOKIES
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed OR 2 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1 egg yolk, reserve white for later
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
Finely chopped pecans for rolling
Mix together the shortening and butter. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and brown sugar. Mix well. All flour and salt. Mix thoroughly. Roll into 1-inch balls. Dip in slightly beaten egg white. Roll in pecans. Place about 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb gently into center of each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Add a dab of sugar-free jelly to the center of each if desired. Makes 2-dozen cookies.
Note: This recipe uses a small amount of brown sugar. This puts a nominal amount of sugar into each of the 24 cookies which should be counteracted by the egg and nuts. However it is important to be aware of this and work into your diet accordingly! Or you can substitute 2 tbsp of Splenda's brown sugar blend.