The cookie recipe I'm offering you today is a little unusual and really good. The cookies are soft, chewy little tea cakes rather than the crunchy variety. They are "better for you" because the saturated fat in them is kept low with the use of a small amount of butter and a secret ingredient--an avocado. The avocado doesn't add much flavor--the lime really shines through--but it does contribute monounsaturated fat, which is a "good" fat that helps lower bad cholesterol (in small amounts). The cookies are easy, fairly economical to make, and go quite well with fruit. The cookies also are good stuffed with frozen vanilla yogurt for tangy mini "ice cream" sandwiches. Go green!
Lime Cookies -- Makes about 36
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of butter (or Smart or Earth Balance)
1 small avocado, mashed well
1 egg
2 tablespoons of lime juice
1 tablespoon of grated lime zest
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Turbinado (raw) sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 dgrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Combine the sugar, butter, and avocado and mix well until creamy. Beat in the egg, lime juice, and lime zest. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and add the dry ingredients gradually to the wet ones, mixing just until all the white streaks are gone. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place the balls 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand or a glass and sprinkle on the sugar, if you're using it. Bake the cookies about 10 minutes or until set and barely beginning to brown. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets a few minutes before removing them to cool completely.
