Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies

        I needed a treat yesterday. I needed something quick and sweet that also packed a powerful punch of nutrition. Bob’s Red Mill came to the rescue. I am completely in love with many of their products and frequently find excellent recipes on their bags. Bob’s Red Mill has never contacted me or anything and has nothing to do with this post.
        When I first bought supplies for the boat I accidentally ordered two cases of Bob’s Old Country Style Muesli. I meant to order one but must have added it to my Amazon list twice or something. Each case has 4 18oz bags. That’s a lot of cereal! It’s a good thing I like it! Really, using up all this muesli is no problem. My favorite cold breakfast mix is muesli soaked in plain yogurt and a little milk overnight, with banana and maybe some flaxseed meal and pumpkin added in the morning.
        Then of course there’s the cookies. The recipe on the back of this particular Bob’s Red Mill package is for Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies. I made them once as soon as I discovered this and they were quite tasty. Without added butter or oil, they are definitely healthy treats. Of course, I moved on to other cookie recipes. I have kind of a short attention span when it comes to these things.
        A few weeks ago I snagged a bag of peanut flour at Trader Joe’s. I had read about peanut flour in various places and was anxious to give it a try. For some reason, my brain went back to the Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies and presented them as ideal candidates for a peanut flour experiment. The recipe calls for very little flour so replacing all of it with peanut flour seemed like an excellent idea. I hoped to end up with a peanut buttery cookie with all kinds of muesli goodness. That’s almost exactly what I got and yesterday’s treat craving was totally satisfied.
        I say almost because I didn’t bake the cookies as cookies. For purely practical reasons, I spread the dough on my quarter baking sheet and made bars. That way I didn’t have to scoop and bake 3 or 4 mini-batches of cookies while the oven heated the boat to 90 million degrees. A silly measuring mistake also contributed to the less-than perfect cookie bars. I misread the recipe and added 3/4 cup of applesauce instead of 2/3. It was kind of a heaping 3/4 cup too, since I didn’t want to leave a spoonful of applesauce in the jar! The added liquid made a batter rather than a dough and turned out rather moist bars. They’re still totally edible and delicious. They just kind of fall apart in your hands.
        The peanut flour was perfect. Alongside the texture of the muesli, the peanut flour produces a rich cookie with plenty to chew on. I think these would be great as big breakfast cookies. I cut my sheet into12 bars but next time I think I’ll make 12 big cookies.

Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies
(From Bob’s Red Mill)

1 cup muesli
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or try peanut flour!)
2/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 oz package chocolate chips (I threw in a handful of carob chips instead)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, blend applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in egg.
Add flour mixture to bowl.
Stir in muesli and chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoonfuls (or more for larger cookies) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.