Roasted Carob Cookies with Walnut Meal and Oat Flour

Recipe Source: Some part of my head that still has some iota of creativity!
This is my own recipe. And I go "whoo hoo."



Do you believe in celebrating Mother's Day? Or do you think it is just another commercial gimmick for boosting sales of cards, flowers, chocolates and the likes?
Acknowledging a mother on one day of the year seems a little absurd, but then why not? I am glad someone thought about it! It is a sad thing that we need to set just one day apart for a selfless soul, but if that gets the deed done... I am all for it.
After all, that is one soul that never stops loving you, no matter what.
Nothing or nobody replaces a mother. Ever.

This is my second cookie on my blog. I am not the organized kind that could sit down write a recipe, and then follow it to the T. I baked these cookies with what I had and what I liked, and it turned out just perfect. Since it is my own recipe, it is kind of very near and dear to my heart.

Carob powder is used as a chocolate substitute, and is derived from the pods of the Carob tree. It is naturally fat free, and is also extremely bitter. So watch out. Adjust the quantity of the powder if you are particular about the sweetness. Coco powder should work fine too.
The one I used here is the roasted kind, and would be available at the speciality section at your grocery store.

Walnut meal is nothing but ground walnuts. I keep my whole walnuts stored away in the freezer. For this I used a blender to process them. While grinding, it turns from powder to a wet mass very quickly. Mine did, and I used it slightly wet. This should not pose a problem.

Oat flour that I used was pre-ground from the store and was very fine. I have noticed that if you need to reach that same texture with regular/quick cooking oats, then you need to grind it for a longer time and also sift it.



Roasted Carob Cookies with Walnut Meal and Oat flour

Ingredients:

Oat flour - 1 cup
Milk powder/Mava/Khoya powder - 1/2 cup
Roasted Carob powder - 3 tsp
Baking soda -1/4 tsp
Pure vanilla - 1 tbsp
Butter - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Walnut meal - 1/2 cup

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a hand mixer whip up butter, sugar and walnut meal.

Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix oat flour, baking soda, milk powder, and roasted carob powder.

To the wet ingredients slowly add the dry ingredients and mix well either using the hand mixer or a rubber spatula.

You should be able to form a ball with the dough.

Pinch off smaller rounds and roll them into small lime-sized balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Place them 2 inches apart. They will spread out.



Bake them for about 20-25 min or more. They will spread and crack on top. When they are crispy around the edges, remove and let cool on a cooling rack.
Temperature of your oven may vary, so please keep an eye on them after the 20 min mark.



Yields: 16-18 cookies depending on size.



Sending it off to
Jai and Bee's Click May 2009 - Cookies
Srivalli's Mithai Mela