All-Natural Berger Style Cookies

Baltimore's famous Berger Cookies could change or disappear due to a trans fat ban!

I haven't consumed the original cookie in years because my family enjoys our organic/all-natural food lifestyle. I also adapted the following recipe from King Arthur Flour's online recipe to be an All-Natural Berger Style Cookie. It does the trick and is ohhhhh so delicious.

I hope you enjoy these jumbo-sized cookies that are topped with rich fudge like frosting.

All-Natural Berger Style Cookies

I always use organic/all-natural ingredients when possible.

For the Fudge Frosting - 

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli.)

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (Best if sifted.)

Fudge Frosting - 

In a medium-size saucepan, over medium-heat, melt the chocolate chips, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and heavy cream until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat and continue to stir until smooth. Adding small amounts at a time, beat in the powdered sugar. Set aside while you make the cookies.

For the Cookies -

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup milk

Cookies - 

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large-size mixing bowl, cream the butter, salt, vanilla, and baking powder until smooth. Beat in the sugar, then the egg, mixing well. Alternating the wet and dry ingredients, add and mix well the unbleached all-purpose flour and milk. 

Using a tablespoon, drop the cookie dough onto parchment covered cookie sheets, placing at least 2 inches apart from each other. With cold water, wet your clean fingers, then gently press down on each cookie mound to slightly flatten each. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are slightly golden. Be careful not to over cook/brown the cookies. These cookies are meant to be a bit soft, so check the bottoms for just a slight golden color. Cool cookies on pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to wire racks for cooling.

I think it's easiest to wear disposable rubber gloves when frosting the cookies. Give the fudge frosting another good stir before starting to dip each cookie into the mixture. Berger Cookies have a rounded bottom, so make sure to dip the flat side of the cookie into the fudge frosting and swirl around to get a good coating on top. The thicker the better. Place cookies back on the cooling rack after dipping. Spoon any extra fudge frosting on top of the cookies for extra fudginess!

Enjoy!

China to Ban 17 Artificial Food Dyes

This is amazing! Now if only the FDA would get on board.

The Plan to Ban: The Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China Plans to Ban the Use of 17 Artificial Food Dyes

by WhyDye  |  on April 10th, 2012

According to the April 9th, 2012 Shanghai Daily article,  Ministry Bid to Take the Color Out of Sweet Treats, the Ministy of Health of the People’s Repbulic of China proposes banning 17 artificial food dyes based on recent expert examination.

In January of this year the Ministry sought expert opinions on the topic of the “safety and necessity” of various food additives. Based upon findings, the Ministry proposes that it will  ban  17 artificial food dyes along with other additives following a public comment period which ends on April 20th.

One food safety expert, Mr. Wu Chuanye, from the Hunan Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that “Long-term consumption of such coloring could affect people’s health,  especially that of children”.

The Vice Director of the Shangahi Food Safety Office, Mr. Gu Zhenhua, stated “If an additive was not necessary for a type of food, it should not be used”.

The seeking of expert opinion on the safety of artificial food dye is reminiscent of the 2 full days of the Food Advisory Panel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) public hearings held in the U.S.  in March of 2011 (See manuscripts from March 30th and March 31st FDA hearings) . However the outcomes of the Ministry review of dyes vs. that of the FDA are very different.

Whereas the examination by the Ministy of Health led to a resolve to ban 17 artificial dyes from food products, the U.S. FDA  hearings were inconclusive. According to the Washington Post (clickhere for story), the Food Advisory Panel of the FDA rejected even a suggested call for warning labels on foods containing dye and suggested that more study be undertaken before concluding that dyes cause any health issues in children.

China is not the first country to suggest manufactuers remove artificial dyes from food. According to the BBC news, a study in 2007 linked hyperactivity in children to artificial food colors and U.K. consumer response led to the Foods Standard Agency (FSA) to recommend a voluntary ban on use of artificial coloring in foods.

Based on the FSA recommendations and on the consumer demands, manufacturers have produced various foods using only natural colorings for the U.K market. These exact same manufactuers produce the same foods for the U.S. market with the difference being that the U.S. foods contain artificial dyes. The Center for Science in The Public Interest makes interesting comparisons of ingredients of well known products sold in the United Kingdom vs. those sold in the United States in the article CSPI Urges FDA to Ban Artificial Food Dyes Linked to Behavior Problems.

For the well-being of their children, both China and U.K. regulators have taken notice and have taken action to remove artificial dyes from foods. The U.S. can’t be far behind………..can it?

Experiment with Almond Flour: Almond Flour Banana Bread

Again... we were stuck with too many over-ripe bananas. This time I decided to experiment with almond flour. I haven't baked with almond flour before, so I wouldn't call this recipe perfect. I'm already thinking that I could eliminate the whole wheat flour... Anyway, I'll keep tweaking it and hopefully update my recipe the next time I need to get rid of some bananas.

This was also an experiment with SparkRecipes.com. This is a cool website that I stumbled across which allows you to search, share, and save recipes. This site has many options for searching recipes by dietary needs including gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, low carb, and more. That's not all... my favorite feature is the recipe calculator. Simply add each ingredient of your recipe, then click the "calculate info" button to find out the nutritional content of your recipe.

A later experiment will be to compare my regular banana bread recipe to my almond flour banana bread recipe. But maybe somethings are better left unknown.

See my recipe below, or visit http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1871535.

All Natural Halloween Goodie Bags

Every year, our family assembles 200+ goodie bags for Halloween Trick-or-Treaters. All natural, of course!

This year's bag has:
jelly bracelets
sour worms
lollipop
milk chocolate square
Glee gum

Get here early! They go fast.

Happy Haunting.