Nutricious and Delicious

We do a lot of baking at our house, which is kind of tricky considering my no-sugar thing and Peter's allergies to eggs and peanuts. But Peter loves to help me bake, so we bake. On Tuesday we made banana muffins and blueberry muffins. (I had no idea how easy muffins from scratch are. No more box mixes for us!)

On Wednesday Peter told me that we should bake something "to warm up the house," which was what I had said on Tuesday about the muffins. Although we didn't get around to them until yesterday afternoon, cookies were the heating element of choice. These are the healthiest cookies I've seen, or had, and they're also delicious, so I'm sharing them with you.

Oatmeal Cookies (They need a better name, Oatmeal Cookie doesn't do them justice.)

Thoroughly beat:

• 1/2 cup oil or butter
• 3/4 cup honey (or 1 cup brown sugar)
• 1/4 cup applesauce (or 1 egg, but of course we don't do it that way)
  
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Add:

• 1 cup flour (white or whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Beat well. Stir in:

• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup wheat germ (that's right, wheat germ, go with it)
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Or put into a 9"x13" baking dish and bake at the same temperature for 25 minutes. They make great cookie bars and if you make them with raisins they are excellent with milk as a granola-like cereal.

I think you could substitute other chips (carob, white chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter) or dried fruit (cranberries, chopped apples, cherries) and they would still be great. The other variation I've done is to substitute 1/2 cup of oats with 1/2 cup of coconut, which was decadent. Well, as decadent as wheat germ cookies can be.