As every year at the start of the new school year, my colleagues from the Light and Tasty Team and I offer you some ideas for snack time and for the children’s snack. I thought of making some soft cookies with ACE juice, a new version of those drop cookies by the spoonful that are very popular at my house because they are a cross between cookies and doughnuts and are suitable for many occasions. And they are super easy to make, which is important in our hectic daily life. 😉

We usually eat them for breakfast, but they’re also perfect for an afternoon snack or a mid-morning bite. Since they are healthy, not very sweet, enriched with fruit, and don’t crumble, they can easily be put in the kids’ backpack, sealed in a bag or a small container.

The color of the ACE juice gives them a lovely orange hue that kids will surely enjoy. 😊

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As always, you will find other Light and Tasty proposals at the end of the recipe. If you need more ideas for soft cookies, I leave you the links to other versions present on the blog, along with the collection (there are really all of them!). 👇

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 20 Pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

👉 These soft cookies with ACE juice are egg-free and dairy-free.

The ACE juice replaces the yogurt or kefir that I usually use in this type of cookies, while the egg, borrowing from vegan cooking, I replaced with a tablespoon of starch.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup ACE juice
1 1/2 tbsp corn oil
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch (approximately 15 grams)
3 oz apple (half an apple)
1 1/2 oz pear (a slice)
lemon zest (grated)
to taste dried fruits (as desired)
to taste mixed seeds (as desired)
to taste candied orange peel
1 tsp baking powder

Tools

Bowl
Spoon
Baking Tray
Parchment Paper

Steps

Pour the ACE juice into a bowl.
Add the oil and sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar.
👉 You only need a small amount of sugar, the juice is already quite sweet.
Pour in the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch (potato starch is also fine).
Mix until you get a coarse mixture.
Cut the apple and pear into small pieces and add them to the mixture.
Mix to combine them with the mixture.
Flavor with a grate of lemon zest, or orange.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and pour the mixture using a spoon (or a teaspoon if you want to make smaller cookies).
Decorate the cookies with dried fruits or seeds.
👉 I’ve tried them with pine nuts, hazelnuts, and walnuts, and also with candied orange peel and raisins.
👉 Instead of leaving them on the surface, both the dried fruits and seeds can be mixed directly into the dough. This also helps prevent possible surface burns (it happened to me with hazelnuts).
Optional step: sprinkle with sugar before baking, to achieve a crunchier surface.
Bake at 350°F until golden.
👉 Usually, in 15 minutes, a maximum of 20, they are ready. If they are small, they can bake in just 10 minutes, it needs to be assessed based on the size, and also based on your own oven.
Enjoy your snack time with your kids!! 🤩
Little curiosity:
I’ve also tried them with Red ACE juice, and contrary to what I expected, the color turned out less intense, more pinkish, which after baking is even less evident (see the next picture).
Anyway… same deliciousness! And my husband finished them all! (so much for a snack for the kids! 😄😁)!
If you are looking for a container to put in the backpack, I found this little snack container with cartoon or superhero characters. I really like it, and it’s just the right size to hold cookies. If it’s for you, have a look! 😊