As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Daily nutrition for marathon training, keeping myself and my brothers fed when we were growing up was no easy task.

One thing my Mom always used to make for us was Power Cookies. As a hearty cookie with a lot staying power, they made a great second breakfast after a morning swim practice and were good for eating in between swims at at a meet.

I haven’t had need for Power Cookies for a few years but recently decided to make a batch to get me through these last few weeks. They will make a great recovery snack after a run and I might even try them as fuel during my next long run. I took some to share with the team after our 90-minute run this morning and I am pleased they were very well received. This was my first attempt at them on my own and while they were no Mom’s cookies, they will do 😉

This recipe originally had more than 19 ingredients and while my Mom made it like that for years, she eventually modified it to make it simpler and even better for you. When I started baking yesterday I wanted to find a way to incorporate chia seeds into the cookies, both for the health benefits and because I have a huge bag at home that I want to use up. I also had to modify the recipe slightly because my boyfriend is allergic to peanuts and I don’t keep them in the house. I am pleased to share both my Mom’s recipe and my modifications below. This recipe can easily be doubled if you have a small army to feed.

Power Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Peanut Butter (Or Wowbutter for a peanut free cookie)
  • 1/2 cup liquid honey
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/4 cup oil and 1/4+ cup chia seed gel)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup wheat germ
  • 3 cups Rodgers Porridge Oats with oat bran, wheat bran and flaxseed
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or other nuts or seeds)
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup coconut

Directions 

  1. In a large mixing bowl cream together peanut butter (or Wowbutter, which is a nut free soy imitation of peanut butter) and honey.MixingPeanutButter
  2. Beat in sugar, oil (and/or Chia gel), eggs and vanilla. After researching how to incorporate Chia seeds into the recipe I discovered that the best way to do that was to replace half of the oil in the recipe with Chia seed gel. To do this: Soak 1/4 cup of Chia Seeds in 2 cups of water for five minutes or until they form a thick gel. If you don’t want any gel leftover and are only making a single batch of cookies you could cut that in half. That gel can be then substituted for oil or even eggs in baking. I chose to substitute half of the oil with the gel. I ended up having to add more gel at the end to make my batter sticky enough so I suspect you need a little more gel then you would oil to have the same effect in a batter. To make enough Chia gel to substitute for one egg mix one tablespoon of Chia Seeds with 1/4 cup of water. According to the article I found, most recipes can tolerate about a 25% substitution of chia seed gel to oil or eggs before it starts to affect the flavour. If you have leftover gel add it to a smoothie for a yummy boost!

    Chia seed gel.
    Chia seed gel.
  3. Stir in flour, baking soda and saltWetIngredients
  4. In another bowl combine the wheat germ, porridge oats, rolled oats, peanuts, raisins and coconut. In my batch of cookies I replaced the raisins with low sugar dried cranberries because I don’t like raisins. I replaced the chopped peanuts with a mixture of chopped walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. You could easily substitute all of the nuts for seeds if you wanted a nut free cookie.DryMix
  5. Mix your wet and dry ingredients together. Usually you would add your dry to your wet ingredients but this recipe makes quite a large batch and my mixing bowl wasn’t big enough. A good stir with a spoon was all it really needed though.Batter
  6. If the batter seems too dry, add more oil or chia gel until you can roll the dough into balls. It will be a very thick batter.
  7. With slightly damp hands roll the batter into balls and slightly flatten onto a greased cookie sheet.OnCookiesheet
  8. Cook at 350-375 (depending on your oven, I did them at 350) for 10-13 minutes or until brown but still soft in the middle.

FinishedCookies