The healthy-ish cookie

Yes, you read that correctly.

The last couple of days I have been making thank you cookies.  One set is going to my husband's father and wife in Montana and I will post about that in a day or two.  Today's cookies are going to my future daughter in law's parents for hosting me and Isabelle on our engagement picture/wedding talk/leaf peeping weekend.

I make thank you cookies all the time, but these needed to be different.  Genevieve's parents eat an extraordinarily healthy diet.  I am talking vegetarian (not G's mom), organic, whole grain, and every other healthy term you can think of.  I am talking baking all the bread, gathering the eggs, tapping the maple syrup, and growing all the fruits and vegetables.  They are WAY beyond any garden variety (ha ha, get it?) healthy food advocates.  In fact, Genevieve's dad Dr. Lee Reich is a very respected  horticulturist/author of six books/consultant/speaker who has been in publications like Martha Stewart and Mother Earth News.  Genevieve's mom Christine is a chemistry teacher who is dedicated to eating well, biking, hiking, and all things healthy. 

Enter moi - Lisa the Cookie Baker, and her daughter Isabelle the Cookie Eater.  Have I set the scene for you?

 I did eat my first paw paw, American kiwi, and persimmon there, and they were fabulous. In fact, I am going to try to grow my own paw paw!

And so began my quest for a healthy-ish sugar cookie.  Oh my.  I settled on a recipe that called for whole grain flour, butter, egg, molasses, honey, and baking powder.  I added ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in an attempt to give it a gingerbread cookie like vibe without a milkbone dog biscuit taste.  The dough performed beautifully.  It was a dream to cut out and baked into a sturdy little cookie.  I decorated them only in outline (if there is a way to make my icing without sugar, well, I really don't want to know), so there wouldn't be an abundance of sugar on top. 

And I decided to go with a cute woodland theme for my mother nature cookies.  I needed elves, fairies, and mushrooms to help set the stage.

I really hope the gang in New Paltz is going to like them.  BIG THANK YOU Christine and Steven, and Lee and Deb!

Am I going to become the healthy cookie baker now?  Well........,

No.

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