Okay, okay, I'm finally giving it up…for those of you who have sampled the outrageous, protein and carbo-loaded fuel program of Sturdy Girl Cycling, please find below my recipe for Sturdy Girl Monster Cookies.

Cookie batter:
  • ¾ cup applesauce
  • 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/3 cup skim milk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (you can do more if you like or you can omit)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • A pinch of nutmeg (no more than ¼ teaspoon if you really have no concept of a "pinch")
  • 3 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 1 ½ cups or more of your favorite dried fruit (raisins, currants, cranberries, cherries, apples, blueberries, whatever!).  Last batch I made had golden raisins, cranberries and regular raisins.
  • 1 Tablespoon or so of toasted wheat germ
Other options to include in batter (I wouldn't choose to throw them all in the same batch, but certainly there are variations, such as Cranberry-Orange, Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter, etc.):
  • A couple of tablespoons of peanut butter or almond butter.
  • Chocolate chips (never tried this, but you can never go wrong with chocolate)
  • 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest

Cookie coating:

  • Mix 1 cup of finely ground sunflower seeds (roasted, salted or honey-coated…whatever you prefer) and 1 cup of finely ground sliced almonds together. You easily use any other combination or just one nut to roll the dough in…pecans, walnuts, cashews, etc.
  • Preheat oven to 375 F. 
  • Combine applesauce, brown sugar, egg whites, milk and vanilla in a mixing bowl and whisk happily until smooth.
  • Add the flour, protein powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg with the utmost joy.
  • Stir in the oats, wheat germ and your creative mix of dried fruit.
  • Grease cookie sheets with spray oil if you don't have nonstick pans.
  • If you really want them to be MONSTER cookies, you have to make balls of bigger than golf balls. Form the balls one a time (batter will be slightly sticky). Roll the balls in your cookie coating mix and place on cookie sheet, leaving ample space between cookies and sorta flatten the cookie ball slightly with a spatula.
  • Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes or until firm and lightly browned on the bottom. Be careful because they are not butter based, they burn faster!
  • Sample immediately to make sure they are not poison!!)
  • Makes about 12-15 cookies depending on HOW MONSTEROUS YOU MAKE THEM.  You can individual wrap and freeze them.

ENJOY!

Dana