By Joanne Gardner, MS, RDN, LDN
I have always been fascinated with food science. My first career aspiration, fueled by dreams of combining and concocting foods in delicious creations, was to work in a test kitchen. My undergrad degree was in Food Science and Nutrition, and although I really loved the lab courses the long hours of isolation in the lab prompted me to shift my focus to working with people. I still find the science of food fascinating, so when my Energy-To-Go cookies turned an unexpected shade of green I began to investigate. I easily found stories about green cookies on blogs and posts and the connection was clear; sunflower seeds contain a substance called chlorogenic acid which, in the presence of a base (baking soda) oxidizes and upon cooling turns this spinach-shade-of-green. I had replaced the nuts in the recipe with sunflower seeds, blended up into a coarse meal and sure enough, they were the culprits. The bloggers suggested reducing the baking soda and adding some lemon juice, which I did for the revised cookie recipe. They were delicious, golden brown on the outside and still spinach-green on the inside! If you want to bypass the green color, use cashews or almonds in the recipe. Happy experimenting!
Makes 30-36 2 inch cookies
Per Cookie: Calories: 77; 10 grams carbohydrate; 2 grams protein; 4 grams fat
¾ cup unsalted sunflower seeds, cashews, or almonds (either raw or roasted)
1 medium banana
½ cups rolled oats (NOT instant oats)
¼ cup peanut butter
½ cup gluten free baking mix or sweet sorghum flour
¼ cup softened organic butter
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ cup maple syrup
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ tsp. ground ginger powder
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup raisins (or currants, cranberries, chopped dried apricots, figs or dates)
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