Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies

Thick, soft and chewy cookies made with organic peanut butter, pastured eggs, sea salt, freshly-ground sweet cinnamon, and much less sugar..

Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies (makes about 2 dozen cookies, recipe adapted from Saveur Magazine)

2 cups organic peanut butter without added oil or sugar, creamy or chunky
1 cup granulated piloncillo or rapadura sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 large, pastured eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon organic, pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground Sweet Cinnamon (True Cinnamon, Ceylon Cinnamon)

Cream together peanut butter and 1 cup of the sugar in a large glass bowl.  Using a hand mixer at low speed, beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until just combined.  Mixture should be slightly grainy.

Using a small cookie scoop (or your hands), form mixture into 2-inch balls and place 4 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Use the tines of a fork to flatten slightly, pressing a cross-hatch pattern into each cookie.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Place the tray into an oven preheated to 350 degrees and baked until puffed and lightly browned on the edges.  Allow to to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before removing from tray.

Kept at room temperature, the cookies will remain soft for a day or two, assuming they last that long.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Old-Fashioned chunky peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips..

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen  (adapted from a recipe by Bon Appétit)

1 1/2 cups organic wheat flour (can use soaked or sprouted flour)
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup cultured butter, room temperature
2/3 cup organic chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup rapadura
1 large pastured egg
1/2 cup organic grain-sweetened chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together butter, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Mix in sugar and half of the dry mixture.  Mix in egg and the other half of the dry mixture.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  Flatten each cookie with the back of a fork, forming a crosshatch pattern.  Bake at 350 degrees until dry on top and golden brown on the bottom, about 12 minutes.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don’t bake at all, and I always mostly limit the amount of sugar in my diet.  So, of course I felt utterly compelled to make a batch of scratch cookies for the first time in my 117-odd years in the kitchen.  And not just any cookies, mind you..

Adapted from a recipe by Garrett McCord

1 stick unsalted butter
3 medium-sized over-ripe bananas as may be lurking in your freezer
3/4 cup non-refined sugar or other sweetener
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbl coconut oil
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1 pinch sea salt
1 tsp soda
1 fresh egg
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp unsulphered molasses (optional; I’ll likely leave it out next time)

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add 1 egg and beat with a fork until aerated.

Mash together bananas, soda, peanut butter, molasses and coconut oil.

Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture.

Sift the dry ingredients into the butter/banana mixture and stir until barely combined.

Put the lime in the coconut.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop spoonsful of batter onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper, flatten slightly and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Allow to cool before eating.  Yeah, right.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦