Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

As a pastry chef-in-training, I am bound to produce some truly horrific creations from my oven. Last week, in an attempt to bake Heidi Swanson's "Carrot Oatmeal Cookies" on her blog, 101cookbooks.com, I made a little mistake. In the recipe, she called for the ingredient, Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. In my kitchen I had whole wheat flour. I also had pastry flour. But I did not have whole wheat pastry flour. Not to diminish the nutrition of the cookie, I decided to use the plain whole wheat flour. Consequently, my punishment was a dry, crumbly mound of ingredients that were more health pellets than cookies. Though the flavor was there, the consistency was just awful.

And so, as with anything in life that goes wrong, I decided to learn from my mistakes and try again. I used all-purpose flour this time, with painstakingly precise measurements of the wet ingredients. I followed the recipe quite accurately with the exception of almonds for walnuts and olive oil for coconut oil and was rewarded with a soft, chunky cookie, just slightly sweet. Sure they are still healthy, but now no one has to know.

Carrot Oatmeal Cookies
makes about 2 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup shredded carrot

2/3 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and oats together. Add carrots, ginger, nuts.
Combine the oil and syrup together and pour over flour mixture. Stir until combined and the wet ingredients are incorporated.
Drop rounded tablespoon-fulls of the batter onto parchment-paper lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.