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| Monster Cookies with no butter or eggs! |
Maybe you're like me and you don't look forward to helping your kids with science fair projects. You know it's a valuable experience, but it's just not your thing. Maybe it sounds like a lot of work and mess and maybe you're not a scientist so you're not sure how you can guide your kid through a project that won't be judged harshly.
Or could I be the only person with those insecurities? Social science I'm pretty good at, but science science? Not so much.
So when my ten year old girl, Brynn, came up with a great idea for a science fair project that would actually answer some questions that our family had, and when it was clear that it was something she could do mostly on her own...I was pretty excited to find out what her results would be.
So, here's what she did. Brynn made two batches of Monster Cookies -- one using eggs and butter and one replacing the eggs and butter with ground flaxseed and water.
She wanted to find out whether the flaxseed cookies would come out looking appetizing and tasting okay. She wasn't so interested in getting the exact same flavor and texture, but would the flax cookies be good enough to want to eat?
That was her question. Would they be good enough to want to eat? That's my kind of scientific question. And I love how she sets the bar low. She makes success easily attainable.
The answer to her question? Heck yes. They were tasty and she actually found that the texture of the flax cookies was better than the texture of the conventional ones. They were moister and less crumbly than the conventional cookies and they tasted just as good.
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| Flax cookies on the left, conventional on the right. |
Here's the recipe for you, because I know you're going to want to try out these cookies for yourself!
1 1/2 C ground flaxseed + 8 Tbsp water (to replace butter)
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 Tbsp water (to replace eggs)
2 t vanilla
3/4 C peanut butter (the real stuff, not with added oil or sugar)
3 1/2 C old fashioned oats
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 C chocolate chips
1/3 C chopped walnuts
Mix wet ingredients before adding dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through bake time.
I ran out of eggs in the middle of a cookie baking spree last year and googled substitutions so I wouldn't have to run to the store - best mistake ever! I've fooled many people with the flaxseed trick ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope the science fair portion turns out just as well for you both!
I have been vegan now for 3 years and cookies are one thing my kiddos miss. It's not that we can't make them, it's just all the yucky fake butter and fake egg just isn't what we want to eat anymore. We tried your cookie recipe and LOVE LOVE LOVED them!!! WAY TO GO! You got First Place in my book! We make them all the time now and love just eating it uncooked as much as cooked!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Fonnetta! That's so encouraging. Because Brynn's results weren't "quantifiable," she didn't get a great score on her project. Hello? Qualitative data? Anyway, it is really encouraging to read that her project has made a difference for someone! And is being replicated...that's part of the scientific process, right?! Thanks so much for chiming in. She was thrilled to hear your comment!
DeleteVery cool and so relevant. Seems like everyone is going Paleo or gluten free these days. I'll be trying this one. Does it make a ginormous batch? My regular monster cookie recipe is so much I usually have to freeze half of it or cut the recipe in half. Great job Brynn!
ReplyDeleteI think it made about two dozen, so not too many!
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