Half-Batch Blueberry Almond Cookies

Do you like half-batch recipes? Or would you rather bake a full batch or even a double batch of stuff? I like baking half batches because that means I can bake something else sooner. Besides, if I make a double batch of anything because I intend to freeze some for later - that's the batch that's going to be a disaster. Even if it's something I'm used to making frequently. Making a double batch means that I will forget to add the baking powder, or measure the oil twice, or set the oven to broil instead of to bake. True stories. All of them.

So, let's play it safe and make a half batch of cookies! Susan, you made me hungry for blueberries!



These are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside with lots of chewy almond paste bits and juicy blueberries. I like to take it easy on the sugar for these because the almond paste adds its own sweetness to these cookies, but they are still sweet because they are cookies. They do have blueberries and nuts (from the almond paste) so they're practically a whole food, right? If you don't count the fat, the sugar, the white flour, and the fact that I could probably shove an entire batch in my mouth within minutes.

Your Honor, let the record show that I CAN actually bake things without using any chocolate.

Half-Batch Blueberry Almond Cookies Author: Wing It Vegan Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 10 cookies Ingredients: 1 tbsp chickpea flour 1 to 3 tbsp almond milk 1/2 tsp almond extract 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup white sugar 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 1 tbsp cornstarch, sifted 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup almond paste, chopped into tiny 1/4 inch bits 1/4 cup frozen blueberries What To Do: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 175 C and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl whisk together the chickpea flour, a tablespoon of almond milk, almond extract, vegetable oil, and sugar until smooth and creamy. In a medium sized mixing bowl sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Give it all a good stir. Throw in the almond paste bits and blueberries and toss them around to coat them with flour. Add the liquid ingredients and stir with a large spoon until your cookie dough looks smooth. If it looks dry and crumbly, add milk a teaspoon at a time. The dough needs to be fairly firm but it shouldn't be dry and crumbly. Scoop onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet, about an inch apart. My cookie scoop holds 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough. Bake for nine or ten minutes, or just until the tops of the cookies don’t look wet anymore, then immediately rotate the cookie sheet to bake them evenly and bake for another two to three minutes. The middle rack of my oven browns their bottoms too much, so I bake mine on the next higher rack. Keep an eye on them after eight minutes because your oven may be faster than mine. Also, I need to broil mine during the last two minutes (still at 350) because my oven refuses to bake from the top. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool down a bit. Really, hot blueberry balls of lava are no fun! Notes: Mandatory Cookie Notes:[br]If you can, bake a test cookie first. That’s what I do when I’m trying out a new-to-me recipe to make sure I don’t end up with ruined cookies and wasted ingredients. Different people measure things differently, we may use different brands of baking ingredients, and we may live at different altitudes that might alter the cookies. So if possible, bake a test cookie and see how it does in the oven. If it doesn’t melt into a puddle of cookie, go ahead and bake the rest of the batch. If it melts it means you’re going to need to work a little bit more flour into the dough.[br][br]My oven doesn't like to bake from the top. I have to bake my cookies for seven or eight minutes and then switch to broil, still at 350, for the final two or three minutes. If your oven is an incompetent imbecile like mine, you might want to do the same. Keep an eye on them if you broil them though – Captain Obvious would like to point out that parchment paper is flammable.

That's it for the foods. Now let's check on the birds! Mr. Wing-It and I are both very witty when it comes to naming our backyard birds. For example, here is one of the downy woodpeckers that visit us every day. His name is Woody. Creative genius! All the other woodpeckers that visit us are also called Woody.