Our country’s turn toward healthier eating has been a thrilling development for me. In my hometown alone, we have gone from one to more than 40 vegetarian restaurants in the past four decades. I find it a delight that I can choose from a dozen places within a 10-minute drive from my house.
And yet, one area in which each of these restaurants falls short is desserts. At best, an eatery might have one or two whole-grain options, more typically using refined carbohydrates, such as white flour and sugar. This is not necessary.
Whole-grain flour, with fiber and nutrients exactly as nature intended, tastes delicious in desserts. When adapting an old recipe to include whole-grain flour, it takes a little playing around, as you might need to add more liquid. Or when subbing in maple syrup as a sweetener, you might need to add more flour. But the results are worth the effort.
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Tips
You can use the rum of your choice. Naturally-aged rum is expensive. Inexpensive brown rum gets its hue from caramel food coloring. So I use a clear rum.
The cookies may be frozen and brought out for the holidays.
Kay Stepkin is a vegetarian cooking instructor and former owner of a vegetarian restaurant/whole-grain bakery. Email her at [email protected].
Chocolate pecan rum cookies
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 12 minutes
Makes: 24 cookies
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup each: organic canola oil, maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons rum
1 cup (120 grams) whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup (30 grams) finely chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon each: sea salt, baking soda
24 pecan halves
Heat the oven to 350. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or a saucepan over very low heat, stirring until smooth, about 4 minutes.
Whisk together the oil, maple syrup and rum in a large bowl. Whisk in the melted chocolate.
Stir together the flour, chopped pecans, salt and baking soda in another bowl. Dump into the chocolate mixture; stir just until incorporated. Do not beat.
Drop 2-teaspoon-size portions of dough about 2inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Press a pecan half into each. Bake until tops are almost dry, 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition information per cookie: 90 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 43 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
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