TWD: Honey Wheat Cookies

I've talked on here before how in the early 1980s, my mom was a bit of a health food nut. I was young enough to not really be bothered by it, (although, I do recall during that time that we stopped hitting up Krystal's or Hardee's on our way home from the gym). But to this day I still hear about the experiments in the kitchen that my family didn't care for... particularly the Buckwheat Biscuits (apparently they turned out like hockey pucks).

It's funny though... I understand. I mean, you hit your late 20s and you start thinking about how you feel. When you were 18 you could eat fast food for every meal and still be able to party hard all night, get up the next morning and feel totally fine. But, as you get older, it seems like your body gets more sensitive to what you're putting in it and at some point, it just begs for healthy, whole foods. Luckily, I've gotten to the point where a couple of weeks ago, I had a burger and french fries for lunch and I literally felt like shit the rest of the day. And now... when I go to a restaurant, instead of thinking.. yum.. a burger and fries sounds good, I'm thinking... god, I don't want to feel like that again. No burgers and no fries. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, but thankfully, I'm finally there. (This is not to say that I wont ever eat a burger and fries again... because obviously, I will. It's always my post marathon meal and even some other times, you just want it, despite how it's going to make you feel).

When you read the ingredient list for these cookies, you think... hmmm.. wheat germ and honey. It must be healthy! And while, sure... wheat germ is healthier than chocolate chips and yes, honey might be slightly less toxic on your body than an equal amount of sugar (the recipe does contain sugar, as well, though). But, it still has white flour, butter, and sugar. Not entirely health food. Not even close.

That fact didn't keep me from putting away about 6 of these cookies when I got home Saturday night after going out with my friends. In my drunken stupor, I stood in my kitchen and seriously chowed down on these cookies. All the while telling myself.. it's okay. There's wheat germ in it. Out loud, even.

But that's the dangerous thing. These cookies are delicious. I dont know what it is, they are different than any other cookie you'll ever have. They are sweet from the honey and tangy from the citrus and so addictive that they should come with a warning label. And since there is wheat germ in it, you TRY to convince yourself that they're healthy. But, that's dangerous. That's just like those commercials out there for Chef Boyardee, that proclaims there's a full serving of vegetables in every can. WTF? Seriously? We are telling our kids (and ourselves) that it's okay to count one of our daily servings of veggies in the form of canned beef lasagna. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I mean, if you want to eat Chef Boyardee. Fine, eat it! But, don't eat it and think that it's healthy. Don't think that just because it's got tomato sauce, that you don't need to eat some broccoli or spinach or something. That really pisses me off.

So, yes... make these. Enjoy them as a different kind of cookie, that probably is slightly healthier than your average other cookie, but be sure to hide them somewhere where your drunk self can't find them. That drunk self can talk you into anything... the least of which you should be worried about is food.

Honey Wheat Cookies

Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Chosen for TWD by Michelle of Flourchild

This recipe is so good. Really. They are light and delicate in flavor. You can taste the subtle honey sweetness and the citrus zest really brightens the cookie up. The crumb is tender and kind of cake-like, which usually I don't like, but there's something about the flavor that pairs so well with the texture. Any other cookie texture wouldn't do it justice, I dont think.

I subbed orange zest for the lemon zest (what I had on hand) and think it worked out perfect, I can imagine the lemon zest would be good, too.

I might actually try to make this recipe legitimately healthy. Subbing some whole wheat flour for the white flour, some applesauce for the butter and possibly swapping the white sugar for half that amount of brown sugar. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Recipe found here.