Lookit what I got!

In case you aren’t a homebrewer, that there is spent grain. This is what’s left after you brew the beer (but before it ferments), and it’s often used as fertilizer, mulch or animal feed. But it’s just grains, full of fiber and totally good for you, so my pal Heather filled up a nice big bag for me to play with. What a doll!

I found this recipe and tried a couple batches. The first was the recipe as written (which includes peanut butter—not my favourite), and the second was my little take, sans peanut butter and nuts. And the winner is . . . definitely the recipe as written. Mine came out dense and I daresay even fudgy, but not the good kind like you want. Also, the peanut butter doesn’t shine, it just adds to the nuttiness of the grains, and though I could probably work out some butter in its place, I would make this with peanut butter again. I did replace the oil with butter because I think it makes things a little fluffier and I felt these ran the risk of being too dense. But these tasted like super-earthy oatmeal cookies. I used only whole wheat flour and it didn’t even taste like dirt!

And hey if you don’t have access to these, no worries! I would imagine this recipe would work well for any grain mixture you might prefer. I’m thinking of bulgur in particular, but I’m not big on grain cereals. Since these grains are wet when they go in the recipe, make sure yours are cooked (and wet) before you measure them and toss them in.

Let’s take a look!

Say what you want about the taste and calorie content, peanut butter is beautiful. Onto the dry ingredients.

At this point, I felt like it was time to spread these on a pinecone, and was a little skeptical about the recipe.

These are generous tablespoons smushed down just a little bit so they’ll have a nice cookie shape.

My MY aren’t you all so lovely.

Enjoy!

Nutty Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from a recipe featured by Seven Bridges Cooperative.

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp melted butter

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups spent grains (or alternatively, 1.5 cups of your favourite grain meal, prepared and still wet)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix in the peanut butter, regular butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda and salt. Once that’s all mixed, stir in the nuts and chips.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 425F for 8-10 minutes until the tops are just getting golden, but before the bottoms burn. Let sit on the pan for about five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Serve with love.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies after batter sampling.