My two-year-old walked up to my husband this morning, pointed to his green uniform, and asked, “Why are you wearing that?”
“I’m a soldier now,” he replied.
“What?!”
“I’m in the army.”
“What?!”
I tried relating to her on her level. “Abba (Daddy) is a Maccabee this week.”
“Oh.” Somehow, that seemed to make more sense to her than badly-timed reserve duty.

Eight years ago, when my husband was in basic training, I sent him off every Sunday with a plastic container full of homemade cookies, which he would bring home empty the following Friday morning. Now, whenever he gets called up for a week or two of reserve duty, I still try to send him off with a taste of home. (Okay, I know I plug this as a healthy food blog, but salads don’t keep as well as cookies in a sandy tent.)

On Thursday afternoon, my four-year-old asked to bake chocolate cookies with me. My six-year-old was at a friend’s house, and the baby was sleeping, and it was surprisingly easy to bake with only three helpers. I based my cookies on a recipe for lava cookies in a book called “Chocolate on the Brain,” but since I made 6 changes, I am considering this my recipe. The recipe said it made 36 cookies, and I doubled it, hoping there would be enough to send some with my husband, but they were soooo good that the entire double batch was gone by the time we went to bed last night, and I had to quickly whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies this morning to toss into my husband’s backpack.

These lava cookies are healthier than the original because there are made with 100% whole wheat flour and oil instead of butter. Yet, the brown sugar adds a moist, chewy taste. The powdered sugar on the outside…well, who doesn’t like things sugar-coated. My husband always likes my baking, but these were “really, really good.” So good they disappeared in two days.

If you like these, you may also want to try my Chocolate Chip Mocha Cookies or Gluten-Free No-Bake Brownie Bites.

Healthier Lava Cookies
yield:48 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3-4 T/50 grams powdered sugar

1. Put oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in bowl. Mix with wooden spoon until just combined.
2. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly.
3. Chill dough for at least a half hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C.
4. Roll bite-size pieces of dough into balls, and roll the balls in powdered sugar so they are fully covered.
5. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Longer time in the oven will make them hard and dry.
Store thoroughly cooled cookies in an airtight container.