summer is coming: Food Friday: Sugar-free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I made this recipe a few days ago because I was craving something a little sweet after dinner (this was before the only fruit for dessert goal) but have also been trying to avoid refined sugar lately. These cookies are pretty good. They’re not very sweet and taste a little more like a breakfast food than a dessert food, but if you’ve been trying to cut back on sugar lately, definitely give these a try.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Sugar-free, low-fat, can be vegan, makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

9 dates

½ cup applesauce

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups oats

2 Tablespoons oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp ginger

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg or egg substitute (I usually use Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer)

½ cup dried cranberries or raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blend dates and applesauce together to make a paste.

3. Add paste to large mixing bowl and mix in all ingredients except cranberries.

4. Stir in dried cranberries or raisins last.

5. Drop dough onto cookie sheet and press down (cookies will not spread during baking). Bake for 15 minutes.

Notes: You can leave out the cloves, ginger, and allspice if you don't have those, I just like really spicy cookies. Also, I used dried cranberries in the cookies I made but raisins would work just as well.

Here they are! I ate 10 right out of the oven (oops). Then Zach finished the rest off over the next two days. I'll probably need to hold off before making these again, or cut the recipe in half next time.