Is it hotter than hot where anyone else lives??
Here in Nebraska it’s been in the hundreds of degrees with ludicrous humidity. How the heck is a girl to run outside when she rolls out of bed at 9am (don’t be too jealous, I worked last night) and it’s already 86 out…and feels like 88??
I don’t know about you, but before I run, I like to have some breakfast. Usually the peanutbutter toast kind.
Or…if I really want some energy on the run…a nutty cookie bar! (The bar that I wasn’t necessarily going to share with you just yet, but you all insisted on in my WIAW post.)
Okay, I would probably add a bite of this in addition to the pb toast (I’m not crazy…I do understand how the body reacts to dessert for breakfast. Or dessert before a run.).
And this nutty cookie bar thing that I’m talking about..doesn’t actually have nuts. In fact I am probably nuts for calling it a nutty cookie bar.
So, why did I give it that name? The taste. There is something about the ground flaxseed that gives it a nutty quality. I also added some almond extract which further gives the slightly chewy, brownie-like creation the nutty taste it’s named.
This was really an experiment in the kitchen and I’m surprised it turned out as well as it did. I was actually going to make it into more of a sweet pie crust and put some kind of filling in it such as chocolate pudding or greek yogurt filling like Dena’s pie on my Friday Five Foodie Finds a couple of weeks ago. So I just added some of the good stuff on the side (and it was perfection). And inside…
- 3/4 cup greek yogurt
- 2/3 cup of salted butter (I grabbed the wrong kind on accident…I usually get unsalted)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp maple flavoring
- 1 tsp almond flavoring
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup ground organic flaxseed (you can find this in the health food section of your grocery store)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
How To Make the deliciousness that is the Nutty Cookie Bar:
- Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and greek yogurt.
- Sprinkle the soda and powder. (Usually I mix together the dry ingredients separately, but this time I decided to do it a little differently…and it seemed to work!)
- Add maple and almond extract. (Make cook swirly designs with the dough because the maple flavoring is dark.)
- Add whole wheat flour and ground flaxseed slowly mixing together.
- Refridgerate at least an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (If you like, smoosh the dough into a pie pan, trying to push down the middle and push up the sides to make it more pie-like. It wont bake like pie crust, more of a cookie crust.)
- Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy with greek yourt, melted chocolate and/or butterscotch on top. (The melted chocolate + butterscotch is my favorite variation.)
Now get to baking!
I’m going to get a good long walk in (and run if I feel like following my training schedule) before it hits 105 degrees out.
Do you ever get crazy in the kitchen?
Have you ever tried ground flaxseed?
***P.S. I actually have two guest posts up on other lovely blogs today that you should check out!
- One at Healthy Living Blogs about how much I adore all of you in this healthy living community.
- Another at Oatmeal After Spinning about my newfound running obsession.
Please check them out and leave some love! 🙂