Apple Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

http://www.splenda.com/products/brown-sugar-blendThat name is too long.  I think I'll call them OAR cookies (oatmeal-apple-raisin).  I don't need the C - I mean cinnamon just comes with the territory, right?
My problem here is making them somewhat South Beachy.  The last ones were okay taste wise, but a flop texture wise.  I'm hoping the addition of sugar free applesauce and fresh apples will moisten them up a bit.  Science I am fairly good at, but baking science is new.  I'm not quite sure if my moisture to flour to rising agents is right.  I looked at a couple of new recipes, plus the recipe from my last attempt, for guidance, but we won't know until we try, right?

The plan:
2 tbsp butter
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c Splenda
1/4 c Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1/2 c brown sugar if you must)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c AP flour (I may experiment here with leaving this out altogether and going with a full cup of whole wheat flour)
1 1/4 c of oats (quick cooking or old fashioned)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of grated nutmeg
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, peeled, cored & diced
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 c raisins

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment or silpat. 
Prep the apple, toss in the lemon juice and set aside.
Cream the sugar and butter together until creamy using a stand mixer.  Add the egg, applesauce and vanilla and incorporate well. 
Whisk the dry ingredients together, and slowly add to the wet, cup by cup until incorporated, at low speed.
Fold in the nuts and fruit.

Drop tablespoon fulls onto cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until desired doneness.  Allow to cool a bit on sheets, then transfer to wire racks.

Amish Friendship Bread

A fantastic holiday treat and a fun way to share with like minded, baker type friends - Amish Friendship Bread is a time tested classic.  The only problem?  Waiting for someone to give you a starter!!!  The last one I received must've been 6 or 7 years ago and that's just mean.  My stepmom swears by a recipe that has pudding in it (?!), but the one version I made did not involve pudding.  Here is a pudding inclusive recipe that also features some good Q&A about substitutions and such.
AllRecipes also features a recipe with tons of reader comments that may be helpful.
This starter will yield enough batter to make yourself a loaf and share with three of your friends.  Be sure not to use metal bowls or mixing tools for this - plastic, glass and wood only!  You can dress this bread up however you'd like.  We've done apples and raisins, chocolate chips, and my stepmom even did banana.
Now I don't recall needing to refrigerate this bad boy - despite the milk. . .someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think refrigerating it makes the yeast lazy and slows down the fermentation magic.  Put it in the fridge or freezer only if you're not baking your bread on day 10.

Super Secret Starter:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (warm means 110 degrees F when you're working with yeast if you didn't know - I sure didn't the first time I encountered this direction)
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup white sugar
1 cup of warm milk (110 degrees F again)

In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water for 10 minutes or so, stirring well.
In a medium-large bowl, combine the flour and sugar mixing together to prevent lumps.
Slowly stir in the warm milk and the yeast.  Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap - it will go all bubbly and exciting as the yeasties chomp on all that sugar.  This is Day One of your bread.


Amish Friendship Bread (directions to include with the starter you share with your friends)
Note: The batter can be left in a bowl, covered, to do its thing.  If you'd prefer to give these gifts in a Ziploc bag, that works too - in that case you can just "massage" the batter around in the bag.  After day five you'll probably need to "burp" your bag so you don't come home to an exploded Amish mess.



Day One - the day you receive the starter (unless you're told otherwise by the giver!)

Day Two - stir the batter
Day Three - stir the batter
Day Four - stir the batter
Day Five - Add 1 cup each of sifted flour, sugar, and milk
Day Six - stir the batter
Day Seven - stir the batter
Day Eight - stir the batter
Day Nine - stir the batter
Day Ten - Add 1 cup each of sifted flour, sugar, and milk.  Separate into four, 1 cup portions and give three to friends.  With the fourth portion, do the following:
Add 2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Using a fork (yes it's okay to use metal now), or wooden spoon, beat by hand until well blended.  Add any additional treats now (raisins, nuts, etc.).
Grease two loaf pans with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes to an hour until sides have pulled away and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool and remove from pans.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

While walking down the hallway at work one day, I was overcome by an intense need for oatmeal raisin cookies - really good ones.  Alas, all I could find was an apple (South Beach friendly!) and a desire to hunt down some healthy-ish recipes for future use.
I found two that piqued my interest, and I think some combination of them would be perfect.  I'm debating trying each recipe as is to figure things out, or just going for it and doing what I think will work (and if you know me, you know I'll do the latter).  See, the big difference I noticed was milk vs applesauce.  A quick trip over to Calorie King (a favorite site of mine - especially if you're counting) proved my hunch.  1/4 c of lowfat milk is 26 cal with oh, we'll say 1 g fat.  1/4 c of unsweetened applesauce is 49 cal with no-ish fat.  I think swapping 1 g of fat for 23 calories makes sense, but I'm not baking expert.
Plus, I know I can't possibly make these cookies without things like cinnamon (what the hell?!), so yes, a combination is required.

Here is the plan:

1 cup whole wheat flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar (or Splenda)
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar (the Splenda stuff if you're following)
1 large egg
1/4 cup 1% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup dark raisins (or dried cranberries)

Preaheat oven to 375 and prep baking sheets with parchment or silpat.
Sift dry flour, baking powder & soda, and salt together into a small bowl.
In a larger bowl, cream butter and sugar, then add the egg, milk, vanilla & cinnamon.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture bit by bit; then fold in the oats and raisins.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the baking sheets, and bake for 8-12 minutes (keep an eye on them!).
Cool on a wire rack.

The worry is over the oats.  One recipe calls for quick cooking, the other cautions against using instant.  I don't know my oats from a hole in the ground, so luckily the nice folks over at Cook's Thesaurus taught me that:
quick oats = quick-cooking oats = quick oatmeal = quick-cooking oatmeal = easy oats       
These are thin flakes of oatmeal that cook up in about three or four minutes.  They're a good choice for oatmeal cookies.   Substitutes:  rolled oats (More nutritious and chewy, takes longer to cook. If substituting rolled oats for quick oats in a cookie recipe, consider refrigerating the dough for 20 minutes before baking-- otherwise the cookies may become too flat and thin)

Aside from type of oat concerns, one recipe calls for 2 1/4 c, the other for only 1 1/3.  HOW MANY OATS WILL IT TAKE?!  I know that mares eat oats, and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy (thanks Grandpa!), but not how many oats I should put into my cookies.  I think I'll start with 1 1/2 cups and see what my dough looks like and tweak from there.  But then again, I do NOT understand baking and that might be an absolutely horrible idea.  Especially since the more oat recipe has less baking powder, and the less oat recipe has more baking powder and OMG PANIC ATTACK.
Okay, deep breath, let me think this through.  If I use whole wheat flour, I think I will definitely need more lift so I might need some additional leavening from the powder and will have to add more.

They turned out a bit more like oat balls than oat cookies, and they're pretty dry - but they taste darn good.  More tweaking is clearly needed.

Who is going to eat these sad little bastardizations until I find a recipe that works?!

** thoughts: add more butter or milk, or a tbsp or two of water & brown sugar to increase moisture content and flattenability of finished cookies.
A handy reference in the science played by each ingredient.