Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Pretty in Pink Cookies: made from juice pulp


My husband has a vicious sweet tooth which many of you know by now. He is always “looking” for a sweet treat. After a number of you asked me what I do with the juice pulp I thought maybe my husband would like some “cookies”, but a healthy version of course. I have made something like this before and you will find the recipe here. Today I wanted to make a healthier version of the cookie. I reduced the nuts to see what would happen. Here is what I did:

Pretty in Pink Cookies: made from juice pulp
Makes 46 cookies

Ingredients:

juice pulp from 10 carrots, 2 apples, 2 lemons, 1 inch ginger, 2 beets
2 cups raw cashews
1 cup macadamia nuts
2 cups reduced fat shredded coconut
2 teaspoons cardamom powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoon ginger, powder
stevia, to taste (or you can used a few dates instead which will add moisture as well as sweetness)
water, as much as necessary for the dough to just form (I used ½ cup)

Directions:

Grind the raw cashews and macadamia nuts in your food processor until a rough texture forms. Be careful not to over process or you may end up with nut butter. Add the coconut and pulse to mix. Combine the fruit pulp and nuts in a large mixing bowl. Add the seasonings and sweeten according to your taste. Now add water 1 tablespoon at the time and stir to combine. Take a small amount of the mixture in your hand and try to form it into a ball. Once it holds together you have added enough water. I added ½ cup of water.

Line you dehydrate trays with teflex sheets. You will need 3 sheets for this recipe.

Use a small disher (little ice cream scoop) to form cookie balls. Place the balls on the teflex lined trays. I used 5 rows of 4 to allow air to circulate.

Dehydrate at 105 degrees until the exterior is firm but the interior is still soft and cookie-like. Store in a sealed container in your refrigerator.

Nutrition information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 56.38
Calories From Fat (80%) - 45.35

Total Fat - 5.04g
Saturated Fat - 1.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.75mg
Potassium - 39.41mg
Total Carbohydrates - 2.46g
Fiber - 1.76g
Sugar - 0.38g
Protein - 1.17g

Comments:

This recipe makes a light tasty cookie. I really like them particularly because they are light. The coconut flavor is very, very light which I did intentionally. Dan is not wild about coconut so I need to keep the coconut flavor to a minimum. I had a couple of these with my afternoon green tea which was a nice healthy treat. I also think they will be wonderful crumbled over a little berry soft serve.

You can also make these cookies with more nuts and/or coconut oil but rather defeats the purpose of a healthy snack, or at least I think it does. ;-)  I have run the nutrtional numbers on the raw cookies on some blogs and many of them are over 200 calories a piece mostly from fat and sugar.  That is just too much for me.

Unrelated Note:

As I expected yesterday ended up being a much longer day than it should have been. I ended up at Costco for a few veggies, because a girl can never have too many veggies, LOL. Now we have two refrigerators full and I can breathe a sigh of relief. ;-) I had to buy two more pair of yoga pants. I swear I don’t know which is worse, my produce or exercise attire addiction.

Being out of the house so long yesterday we had a quick salad and berry soft serve with kale for dinner last night. Nothing exciting this is why I didn’t post it.

Today is another scorcher here. At 6am it was 81 degrees and was 97 the last time I checked. Exercise has moved inside and appears to be staying there for the foreseeable future.

I mentioned the glass straws Dan brought home from 105 degrees for me. I finally broke down and bought little cleaning brushes for them. I wanted to mention this since Aisling asked how I was cleaning them. The little brushes do a nice job and make the process much quicker and easier.

At the moment I have fresh mushrooms marinating to be dehydrated tonight. I have yet to figure out exactly how I am going to use them. But I will come up with something and will try to get it posted tonight.

I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. Talk to you all soon.

12 comments:

  1. These are so pretty; I love the color. What a fun way to use up juice pulp.

    I wonder how they make the coconut shreds reduced in fat...is it just because they don't add any oils/fats to them after they have been shredded?

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  2. Rose,

    They weren't nearly that pink before I dehydrated them. But I agree they are pretty, very girlie. ;-)

    Great question about the coconut. According to the bag the only ingredient is organic coconut. It also says the fat is reduced by steam extraction.

    I hope you are having a good Wednesday,
    Ali

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  3. These are fun! You are so good to your hubby :)

    It really does seem like every time you are at Costco you get more yoga pants, good thing you just cleaned out your closet and have room for more ;)

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  4. Sarah,

    I really enjoyed these with my afternoon green tea. I love the color too. Something tells me Dan will like them too.

    It is ridiculous that I keep buying exercise clothing. I think it is definitely turning into an obsession, LOL. The hubby helped though, he pointed them out and asked if I needed more *shakes head in disbelief* and in the cart they went. ;-)

    Ali

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  5. that reduced fat coconut was a good find. i bought yoga pants this week also:) but i havent done yoga in forever! so i dont know who is worse!

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  6. Michelle,

    I wear yoga pants for all forms of exercise as well as around the house. They are so comfortable it is hard not to want to live in them. Maybe having new ones will make you want to do a little yoga. ;-)

    talk to you later,
    Ali

    ReplyDelete
  7. The cookies look scrumptious! You are amazing!

    The heat was horrendous today...I hear upwards of 98+ tomorrow here in Northern Virginia! Ugh.

    I am thinking I may need to get a dehydrator one of these days....once all the other financial fires have been put out of course.

    Lolly

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lolly,

    The weather was not good here either. I was happy to be in the AC most the day. It was definitely a scorcher.

    I do enjoy playing with my dehydrator. It is very handy is this heat.

    Ali

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  9. I love everything about these, Ali! Seriously, pink AND sweet, that's a total win-win for me!

    xoxo,
    LJ

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  10. LJ,

    These worked out better than I expected. I was a little worried I had made them too healthy for them to hold together, but they were fine. Dan is enjoying these with his green tea. Like you he loves sweets. ;-)

    Ali

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just tried a version of these cookies in the oven (350 deg) and they're good. I mixed about 1 1/2 cups pulp (mostly the carrot and beet part) with a little lowfat coconut milk and some chia-water mixture. The dry ingredients were chopped nuts/seeds, oats, wheat germ, a few kinds of flour, stevia, a little baking soda/powder, and some spices. Baked them for about 20 minutes. They turned brown but that's okay in a cookie :) After they cool, I'll put most into the freezer to eat "as needed". Thanks for an idea for using pulp!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Laura,

    Glad you found a way to take the juice pulp and make a baked cookie. I need to make more cookies for Dan soon he hasn't had any for a while. Thanks for reminding me of that.

    Sounds like your Monday is starting off well. ;-) I love having cookies in the freezer for when I "need them" too.

    Ali

    ReplyDelete

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