How to make more nutritious vegan cookies with rice bran, oat bran, and flax meal

April 16, 8:06 AMSacramento Nutrition ExaminerAnne Hart

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If you're looking for a no-flour, bran-based vegan cookie that is low-sodium and contains only natural fruit sweetening…bake my vookie. A vookie is a vegan cookie. Use oat bran, flax seed meal, and oatmeal instead of flour.

In one of the cookie recipes, there are no eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, or dairy products, no transfats or saturated fats, and no white flour or sugar. If you want to go totally vegan and don't use egg whites, substitute 1/2 cup of tofu puréed in a blender with enough water to make a thick paste.

This tofu paste substitutes for the eggs in letting the cookies hold together when baking. The cookie dough may be enriched with a scoop of protein powder as you mix the dry ingredients together before adding any liquid ingredients.

Add nuts of your choice or add two tablespoons of lecithin granules and two tablespoons of chopped or mashed cooked prunes instead of any fats or oils. Use extra virgin olive oil if you wish to add fat to your cookie. And sweeten with dried fruit and a little cherry juice because cherry juice helps to ease arthritis.

Instead of flour, you're using bran. Also alternate flours in case you want to mix the different types of bran with a more nutritious flour could be flour made from sprouted lentils or much easier to obtain in most health food stores, Bob's Red Mill garbanzo flour.

I use only bran in my vookies (vegan cookies). But you can substitute flour or meal for any type of bran. Other flours could be oat flour, brown rice flour, or soy flour. What I like about using just bran is that the cookie has more fiber and people who don't want to consume white flour or sugar can substitute flax meal or oat bran for the nutrition and fiber value.

Protein-fortified vegan fiber cookie

 1 scoop rice protein powder (about 2 tablespoons)

 1 tub tofu made with calcium sulfate instead of magnesium

 chloride (about a pound) or three egg whites, beaten until in stiff peaks like merengue

 1/2 to 2/3 cup of pink grapefruit juice. Buy a freshly squeezed carton of juice or juice

 your own grapefruit.

 1 cup walnuts

 1/2 cup almonds

 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil cold pressed and not rancid or old.

 1/2 cup frozen blueberries

 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

 1 cup oat bran

 1 cup oat meal--old fashioned rolled oats uncooked

 1/2-2/3 cup flax seed meal

 1 tablespoon of lecithin granules (optional)

Place in a bowl the oat bran, protein powder, lecithin, and flax seed  meal, stir, then finally the oat meal, then all the fruit and nut ingredients. In a blender blend the grapefruit juice and tofu. Pour into the large glass bowl.

 Stir everything. Pour all ingredients into the bowl and mix with a large spoon. If you need more sweetness, consider fruit, but please go lightly here. You don't want sugar to raise those insulin levels. I like it without sweetener. Use pieces of fresh dates, chopped apples, or figs to sweeten more, if you require a sweeter taste.

 You can serve with almond butter, peanut butter, or other high protein or nut butter topping if you wish. The addition of the Omega-3 oils in the form of flax seed meal, is helpful, and at least helped me. This is a nutritious nut and fruit cookie that can supplement a meal on the run.

 Coat 2 or 3 cookie sheets with the extra virgin olive oil. (I use glass cookie sheets). Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes or from 30 to 45 minutes, until the undersides of the cookies are a light brown.

 Use a metal spatula to lift the warm cookies and place into a cake dish or other glass bowl. Cover and let cool. The world's most nutritious cookie is served warm. It's delicious.

 The key ingredient is the rice protein powder and the absence of granulated white sugar, fruit juice concentrate, or dairy fat.

Raspberry/Carrot Cookie Recipe with Rice Bran, Oat, and Flax meal.

Low-sodium and only natural fruit sweetening. No bleached flour ingredients. Use oat bran, flax seed meal, and oat meal instead of flour. No wheat. No baking powder, soda, salt, or dairy products.

Fruit and nuts sweeten the cookie. Lecithin granules and prunes substitute for any fats or oils. Or use extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nut oil, or sesame seed oil if you want to use oil in the cookie or to grease the cookie sheet.

 2 scoops rice protein powder (about 2 tablespoons)

 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk.

 1/2 to 2/3 cup of frozen or fresh red raspberries blended with a cup of soy milk.

1 peeled banana

 1 cup walnuts

 1/2 cup almonds

 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil cold pressed and not rancid or old.

 1/2 cup frozen blueberries

 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

 1/2 cup peeled baby carrots

 1 cup oat bran

 1 cup oat meal--old fashioned rolled oats uncooked

 1/2-2/3 cup flax seed meal

 1 tablespoon of lecithin granules

 2 or 3 egg whites. Or if vegan substitute 1/2 tub tofu (blended to a creme) for eggs or 1/2 cup stewed prunes in their syrup and 2 tablespoons of lecithin granules if you don't eat egg whites.

In a blender blend the almond milk and fruit. Add the peeled baby carrots. Liquify. Taste it and it will taste like a rather tart soymilk product.

Pour into a large glass bowl. Add two or three egg whites to a bowl and add the soy milk and fruit blended to a thick smoothie consistency. Add to the bowl the oat bran, protein powder, lecithin, and flax seed meal, stir, then finally the oatmeal, then all the fruit and nut ingredients.

Mix in bowl. Or if you're a vegan, substitute 1/2 pound tub of tofu or 1/2 stewed prunes in their syrup and 2 tablespoons of lecithin granules for the egg whites that will hold the cookie paste together.

Stir everything. Pour all ingredients into the bowl and mix with a large spoon. If you need more sweetness, consider fruit, but please go lightly here. You don't want sugar to raise those insulin levels. I like it without sweetener.

You can serve with almond butter, peanut butter, or other high protein or nut butter topping if you wish. The addition of the Omega-3 oils in the form of flax seed meal, is helpful, and at least helped me. This is a nutritious nut and fruit cookie that can supplement a meal on the run.

Coat two or three cookie sheets with the olive oil. I use glass cookie sheets. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes or from 30 to 45 minutes, until the undersides of the cookies are a light brown.

Use a metal spatula to lift the warm cookies and place into a cake dish or other glass bowl. Cover and let cool. The world's most nutritious cookie is served warm. It's delicious. The key ingredients are the rice bran and rice protein powder and the absence of granulated white sugar, fruit juice concentrate, or dairy fat.