walnuts

Homemade Whole Wheat Raisin Cookies!🍪👩‍🍳❤️‍🩹

Last night I made some yummy cookies. As you know, wheat is a much better alternative to white. Wheat bread and wheat rice are better for you in terms of balancing blood sugar. If you’re going to have a grain, it should be wheat or a darker color, such as Rye. Rye bread also is rich in B vitamins (1, 2, and 3).

I will post some pictures below. I also want to share the recipe in case anyone would like to make them. They came out to 25 cookies all together. What’s great about making a large batch of cookies is you can refrigerate them for up to 1 week and then freeze what you have not consumed for 1-3 months.. I like to put each cookie in its own plastic baggy.

Ingredients:

3/4-1cup of unsalted OR salted butter, and partially melt the butter in a pan

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

2 eggs

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat flour (all purpose flour)

3/4-1 cup of raisins (I used mixed raisins of different kinds)

1/2 tspn of vanilla extract

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn baking soda

AND, this recipe is so easy. STEP 1: basically MIX all ingredients together (in no particular order!). It is fun. Now, there may be excess flour that doesn’t want to mix in. So you will have to add about 1/2 cup to a full cup of water, a little at a time, to smoothen the mixture out.

You want the mixture to have a dough like form but to be smooth enough to scoop onto a cookie sheet. Use parchment paper for best results. Scrape up all the excess flour. You can scoop with a tablespoon, and set the cookies about 1-2 inches apart.

This should come out to 20-25 cookies.

Voila! You have Whole Wheat Raisin cookies! By the way, chopped walnuts would be great to add too but are not necessary. It’s optional. Some people like to add 1 cup of uncooked cooking oats. Oats are also great for helping to regulate blood sugar!

Bake at 375-400 F. You may have to go back and forth between the temperature. Check on them every 2 minutes. They only need 10-12 minutes. But cooking times will vary. When the outer rims are golden they are done. But don’t burn! Once you leave them to sit for at least an hour, they will continue to form.

Enjoy!🍪🍪👩‍🍳

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Whole Wheat Flour Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies!🍪🍪👩‍🍳

Yesterday night I made homemade whole wheat chocolate chip walnut cookies and they are sooo delicious! Yumm! Since whole wheat is a much better alternative to white flour, I would like to share my recipe to put a health spin on baking. The next time you make homemade cookies, you may want to try whole wheat flour yourselves! It is better for you than white flour. 🍪🍪☕️

This recipe calls for:

3 cups of whole wheat flour

2 tspns baking soda

16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar (optional)

3/4 tspn salt

2 eggs

2 tspns vanilla extract

8 ounces of chocolate chips

2 cups crushed walnuts

First, you whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Put in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, sugar(s), eggs, and vanilla, and these don’t need to be too well blended just combine. Oops, don’t forget to add the walnuts and chocolate chips also!

Then, add the flour mix from the separate bowl. Now that all ingredients are in one bowl, use a wooden or regular spoon to combine and mix them together.

The mixture may seem a little dough like and hard to combine at first. Here’s the trick: add up to a half cup of water (as much as needed but not too much!) to moisten the combination of all the ingredients. Use your hand to knead. Put the mixture into cookie dough form.

You can even add extra flour and extra water to the combo mix to make more cookies. I added 2-3 cups extra flour and a little more water! It came out to 43 cookies!

Scoop the cookie dough (1-2 tablespoon sizes) onto oven trays covered with parchment paper, and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 F. Then move the trays around to rotate cookies, bake for an additional 8-10 minutes. The edges should be golden brown!🍪👩‍🍳

Then let them cool on oven racks for at least an hour. Refrigerate. You can even freeze them for up to a month!🍪☕️🌰

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Southern Style Pies🌶🧀🥟

I did it again. One of my most favorite things to do ever since I was a child until now is to cook and enjoy with family and friends. Basically, I love the feeling of creating something delicious and positive feedback is always nice. Yesterday, I made good ol’ meat pies. But these are not just any meat pies. They are Food Network pies. They are ‘Ree Drummond’s meat pies.’ Meat pies with a southern twist. I also made pies with cheese and used candied walnuts. Take a look at the pics!

By the time I was done I had about 45-50 pies! It took all day and I wiped down tables, washed dishes, and mopped more than once! Here are pics of some of the pre-fillings I made.

In case you’re interested you can find the recipe here:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/meat-pies-3591684.amp

The meat pies had a hint of spice because of the red pepper flakes and chili powder. They are so good.😋

About Zina

Zina Hermez authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. Recently she was featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written hundreds of articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog and Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. Her goal is to help others. You can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, Linked In, or Twitter.