Oats-Almond Meal Cookies with Strawberry Filling

Know what you Eat - Almonds are low in saturated fat and contain many other protective nutrients - calcium and magnesium - for strong bones, vitamin E and compounds called phytochemicals, which may help protect against cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Oats are an excellent source of iron, dietary fiber and thiamin. They also contain antioxidants that are believed to protect the circulatory system from diseases such as arteriosclerosis, which affects the arterial blood vessel.

My Uncle passed on this recipe from some Online Vegan forum, ever since i got this recipe i have baked these several timeswith different combination of fruit spreads. It just comes out very well and the best part is it doesn't have all purpose or evenwhole wheat and has the goodness of Oats and Almond with out compromising on the taste. I am trying various variations with this base recipe using Pistachio ,Cashew etc. If successful will post soon.

Cooking Time - 15 mins
Preparation Time - 10 mins
Yields - Around 18 cookies(depends on the size you make)

Ingredients

Oats(Quick Cooking not instant oat meal) - 2 cups and 1/4 Cup
Almonds - 1 cup
Honey - 1/2 cup
Strawberry spread/jelly/preserves - 1/2 cup( Or any fruit of your choice)
Sunflower/Canola Oil - 1/4 cup(2 oz)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Method

1) Measure 1 1/4 cup of Oats and grind into flour in the processor.
2) Transfer all the almonds to a food processor and grind into a powder, this need not be a fine powderbut can be little coarse Almond meal.
3) Combine the grind Oats, Almond and the rest of the ungrind Oats, Salt and Cinnamon powder
4) Add Oil, Honey and mix thoroughly and form a dough.
5) Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
6) Grease a cookie tray
7) Roll the dough into small balls and flatten them in your hand, make a small depression in the middle andplace them in the cookie tray one after another leaving enough space between the cookies as they will expand.
8) Fill the centers with Jelly of your choice.
9) Bake for 10-15 minutes until well baked, they get baked quickly so keep a watch on them otherwise you will get brown or burnt cookies.
10) Cool them and transfer to a airtight container. They are sweeter the next day.

Note - The original recipe uses Maple syrup, when using maple syrup use 1 cup of Oats flour and 1 1/4 cup of Oats.When using honey the texture becomes little soft and crumbly so i tried to change the proportion and it did work well.The original recipe uses 1/2 cup of jelly, i make it 1/4 when making for our family as this 1/2 cup is too sweet for us. But if you have a sweet tooth this
1/2 cup will be just right or may not be enough.

Event Participation

1) This goes to Low Fat Eggless Baking event Hosted by Madhu.

2) This dish goes to My Kitchen Treasures for the Strawberry Event .

3) This dish goes to Fruit & Nut event hosted by Mansi.