Clean Cookies……

For the past six months I have been trying to recreate a bunch of my family’s favorite processed foods. So far I have had luck in most areas and have reduced the amount of prepackaged foods in my pantry to a minimum. I totally got my husband on board, but my 3 and 4-year-old are a little bit harder to impress. Maybe if they would actually taste more of what I make they would be able to honestly say whether they like it or not, but they are at that stage where if it doesn’t come in the package they are used to, or look exactly the same, they won’t even come near it. My son is so regimented that if the color of the peanut butter jar changes he won’t eat it for a few days.

This weekend’s goal was to make some cookies that in some way resembled mini Oreos. That is their all-time favorite cookie and I have refused to buy them for a while now. I started out by making chocolate wafer cookies and then adding a butter cream filling. As my husband said, they don’t taste like Oreo’s, but the more you eat of them the more addictive they become. (He ate several trying to decide if he liked them. 😉 )They taste more like a soft devil’s food cookie with a butter cream center. I had them in a pile on the counter and my kids came running in yelling, “Oreos!” As soon as they saw that there wasn’t an Oreo stamp on top they walked away and wouldn’t even try them. So, I can’t give the kid seal of approval, but if you can get your kids to try them I bet they will love them. 🙂 If you are more of a cookie purist, that enjoys light tastes, with clean, minimal ingredients, you will enjoy them, I did.

 

A quick breakdown on these little guys vs Oreo minis is simple. While they run close to the same calories per serving the content is drastically different. One serving of Oreo Mini’s has 21 grams of carbs, 12 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fiber, and 1 gram of protein. My cookies for the same amount (which equals two servings of the recipe) is 20 grams of carbs, 6 grams of sugar, 4 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein! Which one do you think wins? I want to note that if you are looking for a low carb treat just leave out the filling, or cut it in half. These are yummy just the way they are. 😉

I didn’t have a small enough cookie cutter so I used the opening of a baby bottle to cut out the circles. The dough is super easy to work with, and this is actually a fairly quick cookie to make. I originally made the chocolate wafers for me, very few calories and refined sugar free, then I had the idea to duplicate mini cream filled cookies and that is where the sugar went up a little. These cookies don’t have any preservatives, and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry right now. I made a flax egg instead of using an egg, which is also what bumped up the fiber, but I’m sure an egg would work in it’s place if you don’t have any flax meal on hand. Whether you eat the wafers plain, double stuff them, or use a little filling you need to grab a handful, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Do you eat your sandwich cookies in one piece?

Are you the kind of person who take them apart and eats the filling first?

How do you eat your sandwich cookies?

Buttercream Filled Chocolate Wafer Cookies

By Angie Gouchenour

 

9 servings

Ingredients

Cookie dough

4 Tablespoons butter – room temperature

3 Tablespoons Truvia zero calorie sweetener

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 Tablespoons ground flax meal + 1 ½ – 2 Tablespoons water (You want the mixture to be soft, but not runny) (Flax egg)

½ cup wheat flour – use dipping method

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder – sift after measuring to remove lumps

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Filling

2 Tablespoons butter

4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 325’f

In a medium bowl cream together butter and Truvia; add flax egg and vanilla and stir well

Add in flour, cocoa, and salt mix through crumbly stage to soft dough stage. I used a wooden spoon, but you will get quicker results if you just use your hands

Place half of the dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll out to about the thickness of a penny

Using a small cookie cutter (Or the opening of a baby bottle) cut out circles and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper; continue with the rest of the dough including scraps until all the dough is used (You should get approximately 72 wafers)

Place cookie sheets in the preheated oven and bake for 7 minutes; remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets so the cookies can cool

If you choose to fill them combine the butter and powdered sugar with a knife until smooth while the cookies are cooling

Once the cookies are fully cooled spread ¼ teaspoon of filling on half of the cookies and top with the plain halves (makes 36 sandwich cookies)

112 calories per serving (4 sandwich cookies)

Wafer Cookie modified from Gluten free on a shoestring