A new spin on a classic cookie

Baking cookies is easy, but baking them as good as you mom is a challenge. It seems that you can never get the consistency just quite right.

So instead of trying to make one of the classic recipes, I decided, "Why not make a new cookie?" This way, I have no standard to live up to!

Baking can be pretty specific, with the chemistry of ingredients. So to start, I chose an already existing recipe, from a cookbook that I have been using lately. The recipe was for tahini cookies, and is from Natural Cooking, The Prevention Way. Then, I tweaked it!

Here is my new and improved recipe for:

Tahini Oatmeal Cookies
6 tablespoons of tahini*
1 cup of oats
3/4 cups of honey
1/4 cup of home-made raisins**
1/4 cup of chocolate chips
1/8 cup of sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of golden flax seeds
Coconut oil

1. Mix tahini and honey until well incorporated. Then, add the remaining ingredients (except oil).

2. Grease cookie sheet with coconut oil (this adds a little extra flavor!). Drop tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheet.

3. Bake at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes.

*Tahini is sesame seed butter. You can find it at your local supermarket. It is frequently used in Indian cooking, so may be located near other Indian foods at the store. I purchased mine form a local Indian grocery store.

** Homemade raisins are great and easy! If your grapes start to shrivel, don't toss 'em, dry 'em. Just rinse and dry off the grapes, and remove them from the vine. Then, place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, and let them set in the sun until dried. When they are dried, you can place them in a air tight container, and store them for a very long time.  Homemade raisins are often plumper than store bought ones. Also, they are sweet and delicious, and save one more food from the trash bin. (Remember, if they are too yucky to save, compost them!)