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by Christopher McDougall. This book talks about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, who are incredible runners. I highly recommend this book, though I suppose it’d be more interesting if you are a runner and into the whole barefoot\/natural running phenomenon (remember my toe spreaders?).\nAnyway, chia gel can be used as a substitute for oil and butter and can be added to food as an extender or to pack in some extra nutrients. Years ago I had a pumpkin cake made with chia gel, and I don’t remember it tasting weird or anything. I suspected that maybe cookies made with chia gel might be a little odd, and I was right. The recipe I used is for a chewy molasses spice cookie. Instead, I got a cakey, spongey cookie (I did add a tad more flour than was called for, though, because the dough seemed very soft). For those concerned with texture, this might be an issue, but you know, the flavor is there. I decided they would benefit from some icing, so there you go.
\nRead on for the recipe …<\/p>\n
\nSpice Cookies with Chia Gel
\n2\/3 cup chia gel* (the original recipe calls for 2\/3 cup oil)
\n1 cup sugar
\n1\/4 cup molasses
\n1 egg
\n2 cups flour
\n2 tsp baking soda
\n1\/2 tsp ground cloves
\n1\/2 tsp ground ginger
\n1 tsp ground cinnamon
\n1\/4 tsp salt
\nPreheat oven to 350 degrees.
\nCombine the chia gel, sugar, molasses, and egg in a bowl and beat until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
\nAdd the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined. It’s supposed to be a stiff dough, but mine was really super soft. I guess I could have chilled it, but I was impatient and just added a bit more flour.
\nDrop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until crackly on top (mine never got crackly. They just rose and got cakey), about 12 minutes. Cool on rack.
\nFor the icing, I combined a pat of melted butter with about 3\/4 cup of powdered sugar and dripped in some lemon juice.
\n*Chia gel: I ordered my seeds online, but you can find them in most natural foods stores. To make the gel, you combine 1 part chia seeds with 9 parts water. I read that you should dump the seeds into the water instead of the other way around. Whisk to combine, let sit for a few minutes, whisk again, then let sit for about 10 minutes. It’ll turn into a gel. It’s weird stuff. Stir again before you add it to your batter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my first experiment with chia gel, I made these molasses spice cookies using chia gel instead of oil. Chia gel is made from chia seeds, which are supposed to be a superfood, packed with antioxidants, low in fat, and, … Continue reading