Makes 36
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup flour of choice (I use brown rice flour to be gluten-free)
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ cup brown sugar or date sugar
½ cup apple juice concentrate or honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated apple (I don’t peel the apple, but if you don’t like the skin it is ok to peel it)
¾ cup raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, or chopped dried apricots, or a combination of your choice
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine 1 cup oats with the flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and brown sugar or date sugar. Process until the oats are coarsely ground and ingredients are well mixed. Stir in the remaining oats.
3. In a bowl, combine the apple juice concentrate or honey, vanilla, apple and dried fruit of choice. Combine the oat mixture with the apple mixture then fold in the egg whites. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto a non-stick baking sheet. Bake 12 – 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
A note about using nutmeg: the flavor of freshly ground nutmeg is far superior to that of already ground nutmeg. It is truly worth it to get some fresh nutmeg and grate your own when you need it. You will really notice the difference in flavor.