Light almond-raspberry cookies perfect for tea
| • | Ingredients of success |
By Elaine Magee
| |||
 |
|
||
Q. I'm looking for a nice cookie to bring to a tea party. Most of the ladies attending aren't necessarily health conscious, so it has to be a cookie that will go over with that group as well. Thanks in advance!
A. OK, I'm entrusting you with one of my favorite tea cookie recipes. I invented this cookie one day when I had some almond paste left over from another recipe I was testing. Pairing almond and raspberry flavors seemed like a perfect match for a tea treat to me.
I switched to a less-fat margarine, used a lot less than normally called for in this type of cookie and then literally used the almond paste as a fat replacement along with some fat-free half and half. I used only a little bit of sugar because I knew some sweetness would be coming from the raspberry preserves. I also replaced half of the flour with whole-wheat flour to bring up the fiber and whole-grain nutrients a smidgen.
The end result has 22 percent fewer calories, 47 percent less fat and 78 percent less saturated fat than a standard tea cookie, which contains 100 calories, 6 g fat, and 3.3 g saturated fat per cookie.
ALMOND RASPBERRY TEA COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jellyroll pan or cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and almond paste until blended. Beat in the sugar and almond extract. Once those ingredients are nicely blended, beat in the half and half. In medium bowl, combine whole-wheat flour, white flour, baking powder and salt using whisk, then gradually add flour mixture to margarine mixture, beating on low speed just until blended.
Use a tablespoon of dough for each cookie: Roll into a ball, then roll in chopped almonds. Place cookie balls 2 inches apart on nonstick cookie sheet and make an indent with your finger in the center of each cookie. Fill with 1/4 teaspoon of jam. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until edges are just starting to brown. Remove to wire rack to cool.
Makes 34 cookies.
• Per cookie: 78 calories, 2 g protein, 10.5 g carbohydrate, 3.2 g fat, .7 g saturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.5 g fiber, 46 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 36 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .2 g, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1 g. Weight Watchers points = 1
