Nutty Cookie Bar

Hello Friends!

Is it hotter than hot where anyone else lives??

Here in Nebraska it's been in the hundreds of degrees with ludicrous humidity.  How the heck is a girl to run outside when she rolls out of bed at 9am (don't be too jealous, I worked last night) and it's already 86 out...and feels like 88?? 

I don't know about you, but before I run, I like to have some breakfast.  Usually the peanutbutter toast kind.

Or...if I really want some energy on the run...a nutty cookie bar!  (The bar that I wasn't necessarily going to share with you just yet, but you all insisted on in my WIAW post.)

Okay, I would probably add a bite of this in addition to the pb toast (I'm not crazy...I do understand how the body reacts to dessert for breakfast.  Or dessert before a run.).

And this nutty cookie bar thing that I'm talking about..doesn't actually have nuts.  In fact I am probably nuts for calling it a nutty cookie bar.

So, why did I give it that name?  The taste.  There is something about the ground flaxseed that gives it a nutty quality.  I also added some almond extract which further gives the slightly chewy, brownie-like creation the nutty taste it's named.

This was really an experiment in the kitchen and I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did.  I was actually going to make it into more of a sweet pie crust and put some kind of filling in it such as chocolate pudding or greek yogurt filling like Dena's pie on my Friday Five Foodie Finds a couple of weeks ago.  So I just added some of the good stuff on the side (and it was perfection).  And inside...

Nutty Cookie Bar {Print Recipe}
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup of salted butter (I grabbed the wrong kind on accident...I usually get unsalted)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp maple flavoring
• 1 tsp almond flavoring
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ground organic flaxseed (you can find this in the health food section of your grocery store)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder

How To Make the deliciousness that is the Nutty Cookie Bar:

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and greek yogurt.
2. Sprinkle the soda and powder.  (Usually I mix together the dry ingredients separately, but this time I decided to do it a little differently...and it seemed to work!)
3. Add maple and almond extract.  (Make cook swirly designs with the dough because the maple flavoring is dark.)
4. Add whole wheat flour and ground flaxseed slowly mixing together.
5. Refridgerate at least an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (If you like, smoosh the dough into a pie pan, trying to push down the middle and push up the sides to make it more pie-like.  It wont bake like pie crust, more of a cookie crust.)
7. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy with greek yourt, melted chocolate and/or butterscotch on top.  (The melted chocolate + butterscotch is my favorite variation.)

Now get to baking!

I'm going to get a good long walk in (and run if I feel like following my training schedule) before it hits 105 degrees out.

*~Amanda aka Semi-Health Nut~*

Do you ever get crazy in the kitchen?


Have you ever tried ground flaxseed?


***P.S.  I actually have two guest posts up on other lovely blogs today that you should check out!

• One at Healthy Living Blogs about how much I adore all of you in this healthy living community.
• Another at Oatmeal After Spinning about my newfound running obsession.

Please check them out and leave some love! :-)