Irresistible Mediterranean Diet Cookies That Are Both Delicious and Healthy!

For those embracing the Mediterranean diet, finding suitable desserts can sometimes feel like a challenge. However, with a little creativity, you can indulge in delicious cookies that align with the diet's principles. This article explores several Mediterranean diet cookie recipes, from date and pistachio delights to olive oil-based treats, ensuring you can satisfy your sweet tooth without compromising your health goals.

The Allure of Mediterranean Diet-Friendly Cookies

The Mediterranean diet emphasizes whole grains, fruits, nuts, and healthy fats like olive oil. When applied to cookies, this translates to recipes that are lower in refined sugar and saturated fats, and higher in fiber and beneficial nutrients. These cookies offer a guilt-free way to enjoy a sweet treat while staying true to the diet's guidelines.

Date and Pistachio Cookies: A Mediterranean Delight

These simple, one-bowl date cookies deliver an irresistible flavor combination of sweet dates, nutty pistachios, and fruity olive oil. As a professional baker, Mark constantly answer the question, “What’s your favorite thing to bake?” And without a doubt, the answer is always cookies. They’re quick to mix and bake, but best of all, they’re incredibly versatile. One can easily experiment with newly discovered ingredients or remake old favorites. So when Mark craved the combination of sweet, chewy dates and beautifully green, crunchy pistachios, he turned to his favorite dessert.

Key Ingredients and Their Benefits

Dates: Dates are naturally sweet with caramel notes. When dried, their natural sweetness concentrates into soft, chewy, caramelly goodness. The most common dates for baking are Medjool and Deglet Noor. Deglet dates are more manageable to chop, they retain more texture in the baked cookie, and they have a nuttier flavor. Dates are tropical fruits that grow on date palms.
Pistachios: Pistachios add a pleasant crunch to the cookies.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil gives these cookies crispy edges and a chewy center, plus a fruity olive oil flavor.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds sweetness and a rich caramel flavor that complements the dates. Both light and dark brown sugar will yield a similar texture in the cookies.
Honey: A tablespoon of honey might not seem like much, but it adds a floral flavor and helps the cookies maintain their soft and chewy texture for longer.
Flour: A blend of all-purpose and whole wheat flour is ideal for these cookies.

Step-by-Step Recipe

Mix the wet ingredients: Whisk together the olive oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, honey, and egg in a large mixing bowl.
Add the dry ingredients: Add the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined.
Incorporate dates and pistachios: Add the dates and pistachios and fold until evenly distributed through the cookie dough.
Chill the dough: Cover the bowl and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (and up to a week).
Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies: Scoop cookies with a medium cookie scoop (about 2-tablespoon portions). Space them 3 inches apart on the lined baking trays. Bake the trays one at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are just turning golden and the middle starts to lose its sheen.
Cool: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays before enjoying.

Tips for Perfect Date and Pistachio Cookies

Date Selection: I prefer Deglet Noor dates in these cookies, as Medjool dates are more challenging to cut nicely and tend to melt into the dough more.
Chilling the Dough: Even though the dough has no butter, chilling it for 30 minutes before baking is beneficial. This rest allows the flour to hydrate, helping the cookies bake better and giving them a nicer texture.
Storage: Once baked, these date cookies will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. You can also store the dough unbaked in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week and bake a few cookies at a time. Alternatively, divide the dough into 2 tablespoon portions, freeze them and then bake them from frozen whenever you’d like a sweet treat.

Olive Oil Molasses Cookies: A Spicy and Nutty Delight

Spicy, nutty, and slightly sweet, this Olive Oil Molasses Cookie recipe is the perfect treat to enjoy when you want something sweet with good-for-you attributes. In colder months, the Olive Oil Molasses Cookie Recipe is the perfect Mediterranean Diet cookie. Mark does not feel it is Christmas without a Christmas cookie. Now that we are on the Mediterranean Diet, we no longer care for the overly sugary-sprinkled-saturated-fat-filled cookies from our past.

Incorporating Einkorn Flour

On the Mediterranean Diet, whole grains are a staple to integrate into meals. Adding this GMO-free, super grain to a cookie is a great place to start. You may even want to replace ALL of the flour with the Einkorn. Einkorn has a nutty flavor which is perfect for this lovely Olive Oil Molasses Cookie Recipe. If you do choose to use only Einkorn, you will need to reduce the liquid in the recipe (directions following the recipe).

Quick and Easy Preparation

Two mixing bowls and a cookie sheet and fifteen (15) minutes to make the delicious dough. Refrigerating the Olive Oil Molasses Cookie dough for an hour or so just because I feel the cookies hold their shape better. This is truly the easiest cookie to make. Blend the wet ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients. Combine the wet and dry and chill. Enjoy warm or store for up to five (5) days in an airtight container.

Enjoying the Cookies

Enjoy this with a cup of tea on a chilly day reading a good book!

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies: A Healthier Twist on a Classic

If you're looking for delicious Mediterranean Diet desserts, these Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies are for you. This recipe offers a healthier take on the classic chocolate chip cookie by using olive oil instead of butter.

Recipe Highlights

Olive Oil: The oil changes things, requiring you to shape the dough into balls using your hands and squeeze them together gently.
Simple Steps:
1. Make the batter: Add the olive oil, vanilla, both sugars and the 1 teaspoon of salt, to a large mixing bowl. Mix until you have a smooth consistency. Now mix in the egg. Blend until it's completely smooth again. Add the flour and baking soda to the bowl and mix just until it's fully incorporated and you don't see any dry spots of flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.
2. Shape: Use your hands to shape the batter into balls, about 2 tablespoons each. (Your hands will be greasy from the oil, but I find for this recipe, hands are best.) Add the shaped balls of dough to the parchment-lined baking sheets as you go. They should have at least 2-inches between them, about a dozen per sheet. Use the palm of your hand to gently flatten the balls of batter, only about halfway. Then lightly sprinkle each one with Kosher salt.
3. Bake and cool: Place the baking sheets in the preheated 350°F oven until the cookies are golden brown along the edges, 10 to 12 minutes.

Storage Tips

Just as you would any other cookie -- wrapped very well so no air can get in.

Vegan Banana Nut and Oatmeal Cookies: A Plant-Based Option

This recipe is especially for anyone asking what can I make with mashed bananas. Vegan cookies are made without ingredients that have come from animals. The Mediterranean diet shares with the vegan diet an emphasis on healthy ingredients and natural plant based fats such as vegetable oils. Ingredients that are popular in both diets include oatmeal, bananas, and nut based butters.

Read also: Delicious Mediterranean Recipes

Key Ingredients

Oats: 2 cups. Rolled (old fashion) work well in this recipe.
Peanut Butter: ½ cup. Organic peanut butter that has no added sugar is preferred.
Bananas: 3 average sized mashed. That should yield around a cup of mashed bananas.
Chocolate Chips: ⅓ cup. Use sugar free chocolate chips or vegan chocolate chips if desired.
Chopped Nuts: ⅓ cup.
Optional ingredients: grated coconut, seeds such as chia seeds or pumpkin seeds, and dried fruit such as raisins.

Preparation Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325 and prep your cookie sheets with Parchment Paper .
Next, in a large mixing bowl, blend together the oatmeal, peanut butter, and mashed bananas.
Stir in the remaining ingredients until just mixed.
Use a scoop to scoop out each individual cookie and press in any additional ingredients while you form the cookies into shape.
Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until they begin to brown.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes to help them stick together.

Important Considerations

*Adding optional ingredients may mean that you will need to adjust other ingredients to help these cookies stick together, retain their texture or even have a good taste. Because there is not a lot of fat in these cookies, they may burn faster in the oven. Recommended keeping a close eye on them while they are baking.

Storage

These cookies should be stored in an airtight container.

General Tips for Mediterranean Diet Cookies

Use Whole Grains: Opt for whole wheat flour or Einkorn flour to increase the fiber content of your cookies.
Limit Added Sugars: Reduce the amount of refined sugar in your recipes and use natural sweeteners like honey or dates instead.
Incorporate Nuts and Seeds: Add nuts and seeds for extra crunch, healthy fats, and nutrients.
Choose Healthy Fats: Replace butter with olive oil or other plant-based oils.
Add Fruits: Incorporate fresh or dried fruits for natural sweetness and added nutrients.

Disclaimer

Other than a gluten-free diet, which I know quite well because my son has Celiac Diesase, I do not claim to be an expert on nutrition or other special diets. I'm not going all healthy on you. I am however, a fan of the Mediterranean diet and generally love the recipes that fall within that category.

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