Eat Like a Rabbit

I love to take photographing opportunities to highlight special gifts we have received. I found this olive wood tray that Paul's folks brought us from Greece to be a perfect way to display the cookies. . .although as good as the cookies are, the tray would constantly need to be replenished.

My mom has been making these cookies for years. She's practically famous for them. I remember my folks coming home from a party once saying a gentleman said he reached down and took one cookie, but two more jumped on his plate. My experience with this recipe is equally successful. They truly are habit forming. When I took them to work, one of my EMTs frowned and said "How could you? I'm on a diet." I pointed out that the cookies had no flour in them, which makes them gluten-free and makes them less fattening. Stunned and curious how the cookies manage to stick together without floor, they became more exciting. Also being naturally dairy-free, one of our house guests ate three straight out of the oven because he didn't have to worry about the butter in them. In my opinion, these cookies fall under the "not-quite-20-percent-bad" category.

There are two recipes--one is the original version and the second is the lower cholesterol version. This is also the same recipe my mom uses for her homemade granola.

Cost to Make Oatmeal Cookies

You'll find that the cabinets were bare and I used just the ingredients we had on hand. Also, I used the old-fashioned oats, which were still delicious, but were not as crispy as the original recipe is.

• Free Oats (Mom bought the wrong kind.)
• $0.07 Brown Sugar (Costco)
• $0.01 Salt (Publix)
• $0.11 Chocolate Chips (Costco)
• $0.06 Walnuts (Costco)
• $0.10 Oil (Target)
• Free Vanilla (Mom gave me some of hers cause she had too much.)
• Free Eggs (Publix. Leftover from a breakfast at Paul's work. I think he was reimbursed for them.)
• $0.35 Total for 30-ish cookies

OK. So, maybe they wouldn't be this cheap for you if you had to buy your own eggs, vanilla and oatmeal, but I guarantee it can't be much more expensive. These are likely healthier and cheaper than anything you can get on the shelf.

OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #1

• 2 C quick oats
• ¾ C brown sugar
• ½ t. salt
• ¾ C coconut
• ½ C chocolate chips
• ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
• ½ C oil
• ½ t. vanilla
• 1 or 2 eggs, beaten

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl and place onto oiled cookie sheet and pack tightly to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. The number of eggs depends upon amount of added ingredients, such as raisins, nuts, chips, etc. I usually make a triple batch as these cookies are habit forming.

OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #2

• 6 C quick oats
• 1 ½ C brown sugar
• 1 ½ t. salt
• 2 ¼ C coconut
• 1 ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
• 1 ½ C chocolate chips (opt)
• 1 ½ C Smart Balance oil
• 1 T vanilla
• 2 t. almond flavor
• 5 egg whites

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl, place onto un-oiled cookie sheet, flatten and pack around edges to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies in pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack. Push cookies back together if they break apart when taking them from the cookie sheet. They usually set okay. Variations: Try using other foods you might find in granola. Raisins tend to burn. Yield: about 50 medium cookies.

Would you like to know what we're eating next?