Lenten Cookies - Easy & Sort of Healthy

Healthy? Well, they are still cookies, but these have a smaller ratio of sugar and fat than most recipes. Also, they have a bit of whole grains.

I adapted this recipe from a favorite cookbook: More With Less.

What makes them easy is that you pre-mix a gallon size batch of pantry ingredients and then whip up the last step whenever you need a treat.

Mix:
1&1/2 cups white sugar
1&1/2 cups of brown sugar
1&1/2 cups white flour
1&1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Cut in:
2 cups shortening

Add:
6 cups of rolled oats

Mix well. Store in a cool place. (I use my pantry)

Cookie Day
For 2 dz small cookies:
1. Scoop out 2 cups of mix into a bowl.

2. Warm 1/2 cup of soy milk (or rice or almond milk) and mix in 1&1/2 tsp of Energy Egg-replacer and 1 tsp vanilla.

3. Combine the pantry mix with the wet mix. Add whatever variation you want (raisins and cinnamon make a good cookie; so do peanut butter chips and/or chocolate chips)

4. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350.


I guess I should have shared this sooner, since we only have a few weeks left of Great Lent! Sometimes these last weeks are the hardest, and with so many wine days coming up, a small treat seems like a good idea.

Starting to think about Pascha Flowers

I fondly remember the first time I was able to participate in decorating the Tomb.

I also have a special memory of using the Pascha flowers one year for Birth-Visualization and even though my daughter is about to turn three, I still think of those lilies.

Three weeks to go! I thank God for a helpful Lenten Retreat this past weekend on "The Hymns of Repentance."

Open to me the gates of repentance, O Giver of Life; for my spirit goes early to the temple of Thy Holiness, coming in the temple of my body, wholly polluted. But because Thou are compassionate, purify Thou me by the compassion of Thy mercies.