“Super crispy and delicious cookies! Some homemade goodies which allow you to enjoy at ease.”
As usual, some baking staples were left untouched on the kitchen shelves for quite a while. I was afraid they would end up in the trash bin as expiry dates were close. I just pulled these items out and made my cookies with instant ideas (chuckles).
These cookies turned out excellent and the first batch of my bake was simply wiped out the moment they were ready to be eaten. Even for me, a conscious diet watcher, I ate quite a bit of them, too. Why so? I was not afraid because… I baked them with shortening instead of butter! All-vegetable shortening contains 50% less saturated fat than butter. Further more, I had added less sugar than what commonly uses in many recipes. It’s sweet enough to my liking.
Just that, if you love strong buttery flavor in your cookies, shortening may disappoint you, in that sense. You may still taste aroma in this cookie, but never the rich buttery flavor. Oh well, for the sake of 50% less saturated fat, why not? Believe me, this cookie of mine will not fail you (laugh). And not to worry if you wouldn’t like any almond flavour, the ground almond is just to fine to be noticed (smile)!
Ingredients
250 gram of self raising flour, sieved
250 gram of Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening
6 teaspoons of low fat milk
200 gram of brown sugar
125 gram of extra fine ground almond
60 grams of chocolate rice
80 grams of black raisins
2 eggs
Method
1) Preheat oven to 160°C, 20 minutes in advance.
2) Place shortening and low fat milk in a large mixing bowl. Add in sugar and cream the mixture at medium-high (No.3) speed, for 5 – 6 minutes or until smooth. Use plastic spatula to scrap off the mixture along the inner sides of the mixing bowl at times.
3) Break eggs and pour into the mixture. Beat at the lower speed for 2 minutes.
4) Gradually mix in sieved flour and continue beating for another 1 – 2 minutes.
5) By now, the mixture should be stiff with mild resistance. Mix in ground almond, then turn off the mixer and fold in raisins and chocolate rice.
6) Now, store the mixture in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour time. The mixture will be chilled into soft dough.
7) Line baking tray with baking sheet and lightly grease with olive oil. Scope dough in an amount of 20 cents sized balls and place them 1 inch apart on the greased baking sheet. Use a fork to slightly flatten the balls to shape.
8) Place baking tray on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove cookies from oven to cool on wire rack for a bit. The hot soft cookies will turn crisped almost instantly once left to cool. Store cookies in an air-tight jar and serve with a cup of nice skinny latte anytime!
A badge-sized cookie counts about 50kcal.
Tips: Crisco shortening is available in major supermarkets (Find it at the baking needs cells).
* Not necessary to use chilled shortening. Cool temperature is fine.
* If you decide to use butter, add 250gram of semi-melted butter will do.
* Omit the raisins, if you don’t like the stickiness of the baked raisin in your bites of the cookies.
* Don’t omit the ground almond, it’s the gist of it.