Something a little different today:

Like everyone, I often wonder how I can get myself to eat more healthy food. Heaven knows, I have no interest in living forever, but remaining agile and alert as I age is a primary goal. And every day, nutrition science comes up with more research findings about how that might be achieved through diet. You’ve all heard it.

Oatmeal lowers cholesterol, keeping blood vessels open. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants that apparently prevent the body from rusting, which is what it feels like my knees are doing this cold morning. Antioxidants are also key to fighting free radicals in the body. I don’t know what free radicals are, and I’m inclined to be in support of anything free, particularly radicals, but I guess in my body they are a bad thing. Nuts have omega-three fats, also known as fatty acids. This does not sound like anything I want, but again, nutritionists say I need them.

Cookies are a favorite of mine, although often looked askance upon by those same nutritionists, and I found myself wondering the other day if there might not be some way to connect all those healthy ingredients into something like a cookie. Initially, my goal was to create a cookie I could eat instead of dinner, as it becomes more difficult to think of a healthy dinner menu that does not require the death of any creature capable of close emotional attachments to others. I present below the recipe I devised.

I must warn you that nothing about this recipe can be done quickly, so choose a day to try it when you have plenty of time. I started with a basic oatmeal cookie recipe, reasoning that the dough would be the vehicle by which the other ingredients could be bound together. I prefer a soft oatmeal cookie:

Cream together 1 cup soft butter, 1 cup white sugar, and 1 cup packed brown sugar. Do not cheat and melt the butter in the microwave. Melted butter is not soft butter. Set a dish of butter in the sun, and go do something else until the butter is soft. And use real butter. Nutritionists now say it’s better for you than margarine or lard. Try not to let one of those sticklers for nutrition see you dump in all that sugar.

Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time. Evidently, eggs do not appreciate being beaten together. I don’t know why. I’m just giving you the recipe here.

Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Set this bowl aside. Do not attempt to take a short cut and mix the dry ingredients into the wet at this stage. That will not work.

In an entirely other bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, and a scant 1/2 teaspoon salt. Salt is not good for you, and with all the other stuff in there, you’ll never notice the missing salt. To my surprise, there is no longer any need to sift the dry ingredients. Who knew? All those hours in home economics class learning to sift, wasted. Just as well, I suppose, as the young people now gathering in my kitchen have no idea what it means to sift.

Oatmeal cookies typically contain raisins, but nutritionists now tell us that blueberries are more helpful in retaining memory as we age, especially dried blueberries. These are sold in your average dried fruit aisle and are incredibly expensive for a tiny bag. What the heck, they’re good for you. Mix 1/2 cup blueberries into the dry mix. Walnuts contain those all-important omega-3 fats, so toss in 1/2 cup of those. Dark chocolate is next, and it turns out one company makes those cookie chips in a 60% cacao variety. These are not cheap either, but you’ll need at least 1/2 cup of those. Toss all the dry ingredients together.

Dump the dry ingredients slowly into the wet while someone younger and fitter stirs the mixture vigorously. When completely mixed, slowly add 3 cups of oatmeal, and stir again. The original recipe called for one minute oatmeal, but nothing happens in one minute around here anymore, so I used the slow-cooking variety we prefer. This makes for lots of texture in the finished cookie. Your choice.

By this time, you will be exhausted and in no mood to embark on a big baking project, so, lucky for you, the dough must go into the refrigerator for at least an hour to firm up. Sit down with a warm beverage and a good book.

Later that same day, or even the next, form slightly flattened cookies on a greased sheet, or parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes, depending on the size of cookie. Do not under-cook. This recipe makes a lot of cookies. I can’t estimate any closer than that, as this batch began to disappear the instant they came out of the oven. I also cannot give you an accurate calorie count, or any other specifics about nutrition. These are cookies were talking about here, not Brussels sprouts.

Now curl up with a plate of cookies, a cuppa whatever, and a favorite mystery. Enjoy!