Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

You won’t believe that these are gluten-free. They taste intensely peanut buttery, but they have a texture very much like regular cookies. A day after baking, they are still a little crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle.

The ingredients list will also surprise you: peanut butter, sugar and egg. No gluten-free flour, no extra butter or oil. There are some tweaks in the form of chocolate chips, coffee powder and vanilla, but the recipe works without them. This recipe has been around forever (well, not really forever, but a really long time–I first saw a version of the recipe about 15 years ago and I doubt it was new then).

When the batter is first mixed together, it looks quite wet and impossible. Not to worry. The starch in the peanut butter absorbs the moisture as the batter sits, and the mixture becomes less sticky.

The next time I make this, I am going to try adding some cocoa powder to turn these cookies into double chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. Another option is using chocolate peanut butter  (or any flavored peanut butter, for that matter).

Double Chocolate Walnuts (with a lower-fat cookie variation)

A while ago, I made a clone of Mashuga Nuts, cinnamon meringue coated pecans. At some point after that, I found out that the same company that makes Mashuga Nuts also makes chocolate meringue coated walnuts. I haven’t actually tasted this version of Mashuga Nuts, but why should that stop me from creating my own double chocolate walnuts?

My walnuts are coated with a espresso cocoa meringue. As the nuts slowly bake, they are tossed in a small amount of coconut oil to add another layer of tropical richness. The final touch is a semisweet chocolate glaze.