Recipe: Vanilla Wafers

"Are these homemade?"

"They taste exactly like the store bought ones."

"Only a little better..."

That's the conversation I listened to as two of my children munched on these cookies.

I wanted to make my own Nilla Wafers for some cream cheese cupcakes. But, of course, all the Vanilla Wafer recipes I found called for processed sugars and most used white flour. So I experimented with the recipe and I must say - the first experiment was a complete success!

Although these cookies turn out a bit softer than the store bought kind, after making them, I wondered why on earth we had ever bought the store bought kind in the past when it's so easy and so much healthier to make our own!

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Vanilla Wafers

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 cup raw, organic agave

3 Tbsp's Raw honey

1 large egg (cage-free, hormone-free), at room temp.

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup sprouted wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

Preheat oven to 325°. Line a glass baking dish with parchment paper.

(*Using parchment paper definitely gives the best results. But lightly greasing a glass baking dish works too - they are just as tasty, it's simply the shape that doesn't form as perfectly.)

Cream butter, agave and honey in mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla.

(*I bring my egg to room temp. by placing it in a bowl with very warm/hot water for a few minutes. The mixture will not mix properly if anything cold is added to it.)

In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix into wet ingredients.

Level out the dough into a teaspoon measuring spoon and spoon out onto baking dish. (This works well with a small spoon such as a baby spoon.)

Cook for 15 - 17 minutes or until edges become golden.

Uses for Vanilla Wafers:

*make little almond (or peanut) butter, banana and raw cocoa sauce sandwiches with them

*stick into homemade ice cream

*or scoop ice cream or frozen yogurt in between two Vanilla Wafers

*dip into homemade caramel for a special treat

*blend up to make a cheesecake crust

Enjoy!

Photo credit: http://wiseanticsoflife.blogspot.com/2010/09/homemade-nilla-wafers-make-your-own.html