Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Granola Grabbers (TWD)

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Granola Grabbers, was selected by Michele of Bad Girl Baking. At first glance, I was all excited about making a great healthy cookie recipe as it is chock full of grains, dried fruit and nuts. I guess I overlooked the the 14 tablespoons of butter, which eliminates the word "healthy" from this recipe. It's a cookie Linda, so get over it!

This recipe definitely begs to be played with, looking the wide variety of ingredients listed! I decided to make use of what was available in my pantry. I used Trader Joe's vanilla almond granola, and my substitutions included: flaxseed meal (instead of wheat germ), and a combination of dried apples and dried cherries (instead of raisins). As many of the bakers commented that the cookie was a bit sweet, I dialed back the amount of sugar, reducing the brown sugar to 1/2 cup and granulated sugar to 1/8 cup.
The resulting dough was really crumbly and dry. I would recommend that you press flat the balls of dough on the baking sheet (as Dorie instructs), as the dough does not spread much when baking in the oven (the cookies pictured here were pressed flat before baking).


What the cookie lacks in eye appeal definitely makes up for itself in taste and texture. I really enjoyed the crunch of the nuts and the chewy texture of the dried fruit. In many ways, this reminded me of an amped up oatmeal cookie.

Well, I'm going to stop writing now, as I need to enjoy more of these delicious gems with a cold glass of milk...nom, nom, nom, nom....

If you'd like to try this recipe out, it is available on Michelle's blog. To see how my fellow bakers fared, check out the Tuesday's With Dorie blogroll.

22 comments:

Shelby said...

I think your cookies have great eye appeal! Loving your pictures!

Anonymous said...

My dough was crumbly too (and I followed the recipe exactly), but it seems like other TWD bakers didn't have such crumbly dough. That's one of the great things about the group, seeing how it works and doesn't work. I don't get it. But mine was like yours - and also SO delicious.

Jules Someone said...

Yours look so delicious! Maybe not pretty, but who needs pretty?

Sarah said...

looks great! good job!

Engineer Baker said...

I think they're pretty in a completely cookie-like, ordinary sort of way. Unassumingly delicious!

The Food Librarian said...

Delicious! I like the sub of flaxseed - those omega-3s totally knock out any of the bad in the butter.

Christine said...

Your cookies look delicious! I so wish TJs would come to my town, makes me so jealous.

CB said...

Your cookie pictures look delicious! Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

Yours look fab.!

Glad you liked them!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

looks good! i agree all that butter definitely makes them NOT a healthy cookie.

Prudy said...

I love your description of an amped up oatmeal cookie. Isn't that the truth? We loved them and will definitely play around with them somre more.

Jessica Eiden Smedley said...

Great photos! So glad you enjoyed the cookies.

Mine were a bit crumbly as well.

Anonymous said...

These look great in the glass! What a fun photo.

Anonymous said...

Well these granola grabbers certainly grabbed my attention, yum!

Anonymous said...

Hahaha nom nom nom indeed! Great photos!

Sharon said...

They look fabulous.

Anonymous said...

These look good. Love the glass of cookies.

Di said...

Fantastic pictures! *sigh* I miss Trader Joe's. I say that everytime I see someone else has used a wonderful product from there.

Shari said...

I love your substitution of flaxseed meal! Your cookies look delicious!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Pamela said...

The cookies look fantastic in the pictures. I love how you can see the peanuts. They were so good! I will definitely be making these again.

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

These look so good! I missed this week and will have to make time to catch up and give them a try.

Mari said...

While these cookies won't win any beauty pageants, they sure make up for it in deliciousness!

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