I am not a foodie. At least not in the truest sense of the word.
When it comes to most foods, my tastes would be labeled run of the mill. Or even better I’m like Goldilocks because I want things not too hot and not too cold (both in physical heat and spice).
I do, however, have a thing for dessert. So maybe that makes a “dessertie”?
Nah. That doesn’t roll off the tongue.
I thoroughly enjoy small, round baked goods, though, so I guess it’s OK to call me “cookie” – but not in a derogatory or condescending way, mind you. That would be offensive.
My cookie tastes are varied and I welcome them in all shapes and sizes. Well, that is as long as they don’t have too many nuts in them. Too many nut pieces can ruin a cookie.
Buy A Cookie Cart Cookie, Help A Teen
As you can see, I’ve put a lot of thought into what defines the merit of a cookie. I have also put a lot of research and thought into finding innovative ways to create a business that gives back.
So it should come as no surprise that I would find not only the coolest of cookie options but one whose purpose is to support its community. Taking these two very specific criteria into account, Cookie Cart takes top honors. Here is their purpose in their own words:
“Cookie Cart provides teens 15 to 18 years old with lasting and meaningful work, life and leadership skills through experience and training in an urban nonprofit bakery.”
Cookie Cart’s Youth Program takes the teen employees through three stages of work readiness to prepare them to succeed. Teens participate in hands-on learning through the bakery program, experiential learning through customer service and financial literacy training, and then they are offered an opportunity to earn National Career Readiness Certification.
The Cookie Cart is true to its “baking bright futures” tagline and I am excited to see how this program changes the lives of the teens it employs.
Cookie Craving? Bake These!
And since I never like to leave a fellow cookie lover hanging, check out the recipe below to one the most popular cookies I make. They may be on are on the smaller side, but then you can honestly say you only took one bite!
Spelt Flour Oatmeal Cookie
While my love of cookies has not faltered over the years, my quest to work with a variety of healthy ingredients has grown. So several years ago I set out to adapt recipes that offered a foundation to use different fats along with different flours. I even reduce the sugar (most of the time) for good measure.
This spelt flour oatmeal cookie* is the perfect little treat on those days where you need an easy-to-make yet flavorful cookie.
Ingredients
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp real vanilla
1/2 tsp Saigon cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (the Ghiradelli bittersweet baking chips are pictured above and they’re delicious but the mini chips are easier to work with the first couple of times you bake these cookies).
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium-size bowl, beat the coconut oil, egg, and brown sugar together until completely mixed. It should have an overall smooth texture. If you have a standing mixer, you can break it out but it’s not necessary.
Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and salt to the wet mixture and stir them into the mix.
Add the oats and spelt flour. Mix them all together.
Getting everything blended takes a little while because you want to get all of the dry ingredients combined with the wet ones. Sometimes you have to the use the spoon to press them all together and the fold the ‘holdouts’ into the already combined mix. Enjoy the arm workout!
Consider yourself done once the mixture looks like dough and there aren’t clumps of oats or flour on the side of the bowl.
But wait, there’s more! Throw in the chocolate chips and mix it all again. There will be chocolate chip stragglers, but you can incorporate them once you start making the cookie balls.
Use a cookie scoop or your hands to form 2″ balls and place them on a cookie sheet.
This recipe should yield about 12 – 14 cookies.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes or until the cookies look like the once round tops have flattened slightly and the cookies have ‘set’. These will not spread out like typical cookies, the bottoms flatten but it keeps a somewhat rounded shape.
Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before eating. This cookie is not one that tastes delicious immediately out of the oven.
Store in an airtight container and hope that they last longer than a couple of days.
Purchase The Ingredients
To make life easy, some of the ingredients I used for the spelt flour oatmeal cookie are listed below. I am an Amazon affiliate so if you click one of these links and purchase the products, I will earn a small commission.
*Adapted (many years ago) from what was the “Cheeky Kitchen”.