[ Equipment: Food dehydrator or dehydration oven. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].
Recipe revised on Oct. 25, 2010.
In these cookies, the flavors and textures of the oats, legume butter and fruit are accented with the crunch of popcorn or puffed rice and unfied in the perfume of a baker's 5-spice blend. Warm air baking in a dehydration oven keeps food alive and intense, so that the individual ingredients can be distinguished in the ensemble. The "cran-raisins" in the title refer to a combination of raisins and dried, sweetened cranberries for a bit of sharpness. The cookies leavened with the popcorn have a bold exotic taste. The popcorn scent tickles the mouth on the first bite, but recedes in subsequent bites. The puffed rice cookies (with less spice) are crunchier but more genteel in taste, as the spices operate more in the background. Both are very good, with tea or coffee.
These cookies contain a mix of raw and not-so-raw ingredients. Semi-raw baking preserves the fresh taste and active enzymes of some of the ingredients, while offering the advantage of gently-cooked ingredients with useful culinary properties. Unlike many no-bake cookies, these are also low in calories with a light legume butter binder and a crunchy solid leavener to give the cookies lift. There are (so far) no true raw substitutes, for example, for the popcorn or the puffed rice. The legume butter isn't raw, but can be made partially raw with a raw nut butter (such as a raw cashew butter) in place of the peanut butter.
I began thinking about these cookies as I was working on my Presto Chango dehydrator. When it was ready for testing, I knew that I would be making some kind of oatmeal and peanut butter cookies. Oatmeal is one of the few grains that can be eaten raw, excluding sprouted grains. It is the main "flour" in countless no-bake cookies and a favored ingredient in raw-cuisine cookies. The basic oatmeal cookie recipe that inspired this recipe was distilled from the dozens and dozens of raw and no-bake oatmeal cookie recipes I found online.
Regular cookies from a high-temperature oven may be crisp or soft, but usually light and crumbly. No-bake and raw cookies are mostly very dense, physically and calorically, because they lack any leavening and because the binder is usually something sticky and viscous (nearly solid) like pureed dried fruit, melted chocolate or caramels, marshmallow creme and peanut butter. These cookies skirt both these shortcomings with a solid leavener and with a legume binder.
A solid leavener is a filler, any ingredient that can be mixed into no-bake cookie dough to add structure and air pockets. Two popular solid leaveners are popcorn and puffed rice cereal, the latter being the main ingredient in the classic Rice Krispies treats. Neither of the fillers is raw or even low-temperature processed, but they are low in calories and low in acrylamides in the amounts given for this recipe. They also provide an interesting texture and crunch. I made these cookies with crushed popcorn and with puffed rice separately, but another interesting option would be a mix of fillers. Puffed rice cannot be made in the home kitchen. Popcorn is easy to make in the microwave, in an electric popper or on the stovetop. I've read that an electric hot-air popper is the healthiest way to pop corn.
American markets stock white and yellow popping corn. White corn asserts itself less than the yellow, but in this no-bake recipe, the "corniness" of either color of popcorn stood out too much. One day I stumbled onto the 5-Spice Cookies on Leite's Culinaria (a sugar cookie with Chinese 5-spice flavoring), and I thought that strong cinnamon-y, licorice-y spice blend could tie the flavors together better than the traditional cinnamon and nutmeg for oatmeal cookies.
At about the same time, I discovered Penzey's baking spice, with a flavor profile similar to Chinese 5-spice due to the cinnamon and anise seed, yet subtly distinct due to the mace and cardamom. Now, I have never tasted or sampled the Penzey's product, but I happened to have all the spices (or close substitutes) in my spice bin and created a blend with my own proportions. My version of the baking spice combines 5 spices instead of Penzey's 4, with cinnamon being the dominant spice, ground star anise replacing the anise seed and a touch of cloves to balance the licorice. Between the Chinese 5-spice and my baking spice, I felt that my baking spice was more complementary to the individual flavors of the cookies, while toning down the powerful presence of the popcorn. The Chinese 5-spice (mine was the Dynasty brand) seemed to muddy the bright cranberries and obscured some of the other flavors. Chinese 5-spice is sold in many formulations, so in a match-up with another brand, the baking spice might not be superior.
Any of these spice blends will work in this recipe, as will the traditional cinnamon and nutmeg, but I highly recommend trying the homemade baking spice unless the actual Penzey's spice is available. Although the puffed rice does not overpower the other ingredients, I still prefer 1/2 teaspoon of the 5-spice blend with that leavener for cookies with a touch of the exotic.
The legume butter is a low-calorie mix of peanut butter and pureed lima beans or lentils and produces a firmer cookie than the original peanut butter alone. Lentil paste is darker and will darken the cookies as well. Pureed lentils may require extra cooking in a pan on the stove or in a microwave to rid itself of excess moisture. Lentils have a slightly stronger flavor than lima beans. When combined with peanut butter, the peanuts overpower the taste of the beans, however. The recipe makes more bean puree than needed for the legume butter. The extra amount is there to help the operation of the immersion blender or food processor. Leftover bean puree is tasty with a dash of hot sauce. The recipe also makes more legume butter than needed for the cookies. Leftover legume butter can be spread on crackers for a tasty treat.
The liquid sweetener could be any number of options. I tried honey, maple syrup and agave. Of these, I like the honey and maple syrup a little more in these cookies, possibly because they add more flavor. They are bottled in a range of consistencies, so it may be necessary to adjust the amount of sweetener or add drops of water to get a dough that holds its shape. If the dough gets too wet, it will take longer to dehydrate and the moisture could soften the popcorn or puffed rice.
A final caveat: add the popcorn and/or the puffed rice only if the dough will be shaped into cookies and dehydrated immediately. If the solid leavener contacts moisture for too long, it could absorb moisture and soften. Of course, they will be in a dehydration oven for hours, but it's my experience that the solid leaveners don't always crispen to the same degree as before.
At about 70 calories each, two of these cookies per serving won't break a diet.
Makes 8 cookies
-60 to 80 calories/cookie.
-Oven Temperature: 105-110°F/41-43°C in a dehydrator.
Cookies:
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup crushed white popcorn or puffed rice (see text)
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baker's 5-spice or Chinese 5-spice (see below and see text)
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup or agave syrup (see text)
- 2 tablespoons legume butter (see below, see text)
- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- 1 tablespoon dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup cooked lima beans or lentils
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground mace
- 1 teaspoon ground star anise
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1. In a small bowl, mix spice ingredients. Store in an airtight container.
Legume Butter Method:
1. Soak dried lima beans overnight. Simmer in water for about an hour until tender. (Note: lentils don't need soaking and simmer them for about 20 minutes until tender.) Put 1/2 cup of cooked lima beans (or lentils) in a small bowl. Puree with an immersion blender or in a mini food processor until smooth.
2. Check consistency of bean puree. A spoon inserted in the puree should remain standing. (Note: test with a light and inexpensive kitchen spoon, not a fancy and heavy service teaspoon). If the paste is too liquid, dry it in a pan on the stove over low heat or in the microwave. In the microwave, heat for 10-15 seconds, remove and stir to cool, and repeat until done.
3. Put 2 tablespoons of bean paste in a small bowl. Add sugar to taste and mix.
4. Add peanut butter and mix. Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cookie Method:
1. For cookies with a popcorn leavener: It takes about 1 cup of popcorn to make 1/2 cup of crushed popcorn. Crush the popcorn by squishing it between fingers to get pieces about 1/4-inch big. Place in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Coarsely grind oatmeal in a coffee grinder (about 3 or 4 pulses).
3. Combine the 1/2 cup of the ground oats, 5-spice and salt in a bowl. For the popcorn cookies, I recommend 1/2 teaspoon of 5-spice. For the puffed rice cookies, I recommend reducing the 5-spice to 1/4 teaspoon - UNLESS a stronger exotic flavoring is desired.
4. Combine honey (or maple syrup or agave syrup), legume butter and vanilla in a small dish. Add to oats and mix. If the dough is too dry, add drops of water to moisten, but do this judiciously, because a wet dough will soften and possibly collapse the popcorn or puffed rice.
5. Add raisins and cranberries and mix or knead into dough.
6. Add half of the popcorn or puffed rice and GENTLY mix or knead into dough. If too much pressure is applied when incorporating the solid leavener, the grains could be crushed flat or absorb moisture and collapse. The above picture shows the dough with the popcorn leavener.
7. Add remaining popcorn or puffed rice in portions. Check the dough's adhesion with each portion and stop adding if the dough no longer holds its shape when formed into a small cookie. The above picture shows the dough with the puffed rice leavener.
Steps 8 to 12 prepare the cookies for drying in my Presto Chango dehydrator assembled with a 9-inch heating area. For drying in a commercial food dehydrator, follow the manufacturer's instructions.
8. Turn an 8-inch cake pan upside down and sprinkle with 2 or 3 drops of water. Press an 8-inch circle of wax paper down over the cake pan to anchor it. Divide the dough in half and divide each half into 4 portions. Form each portion into a 2-inch cookie (actually my cookies measured 1-3/4 inches). The above picture shows cookies with the puffed rice leavener.
9. Slip the dehydration screen under the wax paper and slide the wax paper onto the screen. Center screen over heating area. Finish assembling the dehydrator. Dehydrate at 105-110°F for about 2 hours until top surface is dry. Turn each cookie over and continue dehydrating for another hour or two. The above picture shows cookies with the popcorn leavener.
10. Remove the cookies from the dehydrator and serve, or allow to cool and store in an airtight container. If the cookies soften in storage, put them back in the dehydrator for an hour or two. In the above picture, the two cookies on the left have popcorn leavening, and the ones on the right were made with puffed rice.
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