Update: Green Power Cookies

Remember my green cookies?  I had to get to the bottom of it, so I emailed the cookie company, YesUmay, who wrote the recipe, as well as the author of the article, Kathryn Budig, and the editors at Yoga International. Here are their answers:

– YesUMay wrote: “Dear Lisa, when I bake them in the shop, it happens to me too. It is the alkaline in the banana reacting with the leavening agent, baking soda. I was tempted to try baking powder, but have not, since baking powder contains baking soda and… therefore the reaction would be the same. Maybe next time you bake them, try it without and see what happens. Since there is oats, which help the cookie with body, it may work out! Ahh the research and development! Let me know if that works for you!”

 – – My thought here is, if you knew this, perhaps it should have been mentioned in the article?

– Yoga International wrote: “Lisa, according to our resident baker, it’s possible that bad sunflower butter or bad coconut oil might cause the batter to become green!
 – – Um, no!  All of my ingredients were fresh and new.

– Kathryn Budig said, “that’s weird and exciting at the same time!”
 – – I wonder if hers came out perfectly.

None of these answers satisfied me, so I did some research.  Guess what, there is chlorophyll in the sunflower butter!

According to the folks at Sunbutter, “you must cut back the amount of baking soda / powder into about half of what the recipe asks for. This is done to avoid any discoloration that will occur from the reaction between the chlorophyll present in sunflower seeds and the baking soda / powder. This reaction does not make the recipe harmful to consume but may not be visually appealing. This reaction may also be counteracted by adding a small amount of lemon juice to the recipe. “

I adjusted the recipe and voila!  No green, just Happy Hippie ‘Green’ Power Cookies!!

N E W  R E C I P E
1/2 cup sunflower butter
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
2 bananas
1 cup vegan cane sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice *
2 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oat, toasted ^
1/2 teaspoon baking soda **
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (mini)

* added lemon juice
^ i toasted the oats this time.  i thought it would be a nice touch.  it had nothing to do with the green issue.
** reduced the baking soda by half

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spread the oats out onto a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes.  When they are done, turn the oven off.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sunflower butter, coconut oil, bananas, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice using a hand mixer.  Then add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.  Mix to combine and then mix in the chips.

Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 325.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using an 3 tablespoon ice cream scooper, place the batter on the paper evenly.  The recipe should yield 2 dozen good size cookies. 

Bake for 15 minutes.  Enjoy the power!