Surprisingly Delicious Lentil Cookies

One of my favorite things to do is to watch cooking shows. So it is no surprise that while at the gym, my headset is plugged in and I am watching the food network. Yup, there I am, sweating away while watching some great chefs make amazing food. I have had more than one person look at me with confusion, I have had a couple people working out next to me become fixated on the images flashing across my screen, and I have even had some flat out comments like "how can you watch that while you are working out?" or "Why are you tempting yourself?"

And my answer? I just love it. It is not a bad thing to have a good relationship with food. In fact, it's healthy. Perhaps if we just indulge ourselves watching it, food would not always be on our minds as a negative thing, causing unnecessary binges and guilt.

Anyway, I have a great relationship with food, and food network is my workout buddy. In fact, I do my best thinking while working out. Today, however, a great recipe was just handed to me. No thinking required. The Spice Goddess came on TV and made lentil cookies.

Seriously? Lentil Cookies? Could they be any good? With barely any flour, how would they stick together? My curiosity was peaked and I just had to make them immediately.

 

I did very slightly alter the recipe by substituting 1/2 cup mashed banana for some of the butter and adjusting the quantities of sugar and chocolate chips. But other than that, I kept the recipe pretty much the same.

The result? TO DIE FOR!!! No joke. They were delicious, moist, hearty but not super dense as I imagined. Just fantastic. And my husband could not stop eating them! They are perhaps the best cookies I have had in a long time and I would love you to try them and let me know if you feel the same...

Surprisingly Delicious Lentil Cookies

Slightly modified from the Spice Goddess' Recipe (Bal Arneson)

Makes 24 cookies

1/2 cup Margarine (or Butter), room temperature

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Banana, extremely ripe and mashed

1 cup Cooked Green Lentils, crushed with a fork

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1 tsp Baking Soda

3/4 cup Slivered Almonds

1 cup Pumpkin Seeds

3/4 cup Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, cream together the margarine and brown sugar. Blend in the mashed banana, the crushed lentils, the egg, and the vanilla. Add the flour, oats and baking soda and stir until everything is combined. Fold in the almonds, seeds and chocolate chips.

Drop the cookies by the spoonful onto the prepared baking sheet and flatten. Bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes and allow to cool on a baking rack.