Higher Fiber Peanut Butter Cookies
June 8, 2008
G. has been on a self-chosen yogurt-and-applesauce diet lately, eschewing even Annie’s mac and cheese, my go-to, sure-fire emergency meal both boys will (usually) eat. I know it is just a phase. At the same time he is being even more impossible food-wise than usual, A. has been steadily expanding the foods he will eat. He’s started asking for things like Provolone and strawberries, and admonishes his brother for his “junk” food choices.
A. has also become very fond of Gnu’s Flavor & Fiber bars, which have a whopping 12 g of dietary fiber per bar, but G. won’t touch them (even though they are a favorite of a best friend and his brother). With some extra time Friday afternoon I decided to see how much fiber I could pack into a cookie — a delivery vehicle I know G. won’t refuse.
I used a Classic Peanut Butter Cookies recipe, but eliminated the all-purpose flour and used instead 2¼ c. whole wheat flour, and 3/4 c. flax seed meal. With those ingredients, the total dietary fiber between the flour and flax is 60 g, or a little more than 2.5 g for every 2 cookies. Not as impressive as I’d hoped, especially with all that sugar. But if I’d made the original recipe as written, the AP flour would have only provided about 8.5 g fiber, so I did succeed in increasing it 7-fold.
You can see the flax flecks in the cookies, but you can’t really taste them. Aside from a tiny bit of rough texture they blend right in. However, the stiffness of the dough wasn’t quite right: a little loose, and too sticky. I normally reduce the sugar in a recipe, but kept it constant here and they really weren’t too sweet (shocking, with 2 cups of sugar). The finished cookies were a little thin and slightly crumbly.
I wouldn’t bother serving these to company, but my kids were sure happy to eat them. I never get tired of hearing “Thanks, mom!” or “These are so delicious!” when it comes to my cooking.
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Filed under: Dessert
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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3 Comments
1.
Cristen | June 8, 2008 at 10:47 am
I am always on the hunt for ways to add fiber to my diet since one of the medications I take has a side effect of constipation. (Fun!) For me I end up eating bran in my yogurt, which is not my favorite thing to do. I was trying Trader Joe’s “High Fiber” cereal but got bored with that too. I like Vita Muffins for the occasional change too.
The point of this rambling comment was to say: I am going to have to look for Gnu bars! I’ll end up having to cut them up some to be to be a serving size (Calorie wise), but that’ll be fine. Where would one buy them?
I buy mine at Mrs. Green’s, which is our local natural foods store. If you have a Whole Foods or any health food store near you, they’d probably have them. The only thing is they’re pricey — $1.50 per bar when I buy them by the box of 5. Makes me cringe a little each time I pick them up. — Dara
2.
List Mama | June 8, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Those look like excellent breakfast cookies! That is one of my favorite once-a-week breakfasts – COOKIES! I usually make a peanut butter, oatmeal cookie, but I like your ingredients for a change. Thanks!
Jen
http://www.listplanit.com
3.
Jodi | June 9, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Your cookies are the perfect size! I want to buy some Gnu bars too:O)
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