Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips

***Note—this wouldn’t post on National Peanut Butter Day for me.  sigh

Let’s not talk about how long it’s been since I’ve blogged.  There’s not really an excuse anyway.  Let’s talk about these cookies!  Hurry, National Peanut Butter Day is almost over!  That said, you have my permission to make these cookies anytime you’d like.  They are perfect for using up those two or three overripe bananas you have on the counter.  Admit it, you have some, don’t you?  Well, I always do.  I buy more than I think will get eaten just so there are plenty to freeze for my morning smoothie AND for making all kinds of banana treats--muffins, banana bread, coffee cake, and cookies!

I was thinking earlier today that I’d love to do something for National Peanut Butter Day.  And I remembered these Banana Peanut Butter Cookies I made from Picky Palate that long ago, like nine years ago, I dubbed as possibly my favorite cookie ever.  I’ve realized over the years I have many favorites and they change all the time.  

Probably the only thing in those cookies from yesteryear that I still eat is the bananas.  So I went to work changing them up to be similar and reminiscent of those peanut butter cup filled banana cookies and I threw all the ingredients together and am so happy with how they turned out on the first try!  No, they don’t have peanut butter cups and they aren’t even rolled in sugar, but they amazingly taste just like them, except that they have all good things—gluten free, refined sugar free, natural peanut butter and of course chocolate.   They are flying off the cooling rack and will be gone before I know it.  You now, usually when I make something and tell the boys they are gluten free and don’t have regular sugar, they won’t even try them, but they went for it with these and I’m a little sad they won’t last.  Never fear, I will make them again soon!

 Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup pureed/mashed bananas

¾ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, room temperature

½ cup natural peanut butter (I used crunchy)

1 ½ cups gluten free flour blend (with xanthan)

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Add banana, coconut sugar and honey to a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Add vanilla and egg whisk well. Stir in the peanut butter. Add the gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Mixture will almost be like a muffin or thick cake batter. Scoop cookie dough onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack. Cool completely, store in an airtight container.

Hurry, you can whip these up in no time—there’s still tie for National Peanut Butter Day, that said, nothing will stop me from making these any day of the year!

Healthy Butterfinger Brownies and Healthy Homemade Butterfingers Candy, Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free

Healthy Butterfingers?  Healthy Brownies?  What?  I know, hear me out—these, believe it or not, are made with no refined sugars and are gluten free.  The Butterfingers candy is even vegan.  Not that I really care about that, but my son who is vegan does and he admitted these taste great and just like the candy bars!  While deciding to start blogging again, I thought of an idea.  I collect cookbooks and love following along with favorite bloggers.  With my diet changes, I can’t just make every recipe I want anymore.  Well, I can make them, I have just chosen not to eat certain things.  It’s been kind of boring.  I’ve missed just indulging!  My new idea is to make something in a cookbook or from a blog that I think looks great and make the recipe as written once, then change it up to suit my needs another way and share it here. 

I recently got to purchase The Recipe Girl Cookbook from one of my longest known food blogger friends, Lori from Recipe Girl.  Looking through her cookbook, which you can still get on the link I left for Amazon, besides drooling at all the pictures, I was drawn to one that I remember from way-back-when that I made when she first came out with the recipe not long after I started blogging in 2008 for these Butterfinger Brownies.  I remembered that they were so good and decided I wanted to make them again.  I made her full recipe for Butterfinger Brownies as written in her book and found on her blog (linked).   Here’s the Recipe Girl’s Butterfinger Brownies.  

They are great and were eaten up by others around here.  But I decided to take the idea and make some I could eat, too.  I did a little homework on finding some Butterfingers that were made healthy, I knew I could find some from somewhere online as there are a lot of fantastic bloggers and recipes for candies made healthier out there.  I found these Healthier Homemade Butterfingers at Megan’s blog, Detoxinista. She mentions they can be made with either honey or maple syrup.  I tried them with both.  I definitely like them better with maple syrup and made them twice that way.  The honey ones didn’t set up the same.  Maybe I didn’t let the boiling honey come to the correct temperature, but the maple syrup Butterfingers taste GREAT!  They ARE healthier, but probably should still be eaten in moderation!

I made just a few small changes in the way I made them so I will post that, but all inspiration and detailed instructions that I used came from Megan’s post, so definitely read it before just diving in to my simplified version.  Once you add the peanut butter to the boiled maple syrup, it begins hardening to that crispy Butterfinger goodness.  I realized I was adding natural peanut butter that I store in the fridge to that hot syrup and it would seize up quickly.  So I now warm the peanut butter so it is smooth and a little runny and it mixes a lot nicer and is easily spread into the pan.  Megan scores hers before chilling so they are easily cut into bars before dunking them in melted chocolate, but since I was just using mine for chopped up mix-ins, they didn’t need that.  I just spread the melted chocolate over the whole panful, then removed it from the pan and foil and broke it into pieces and chopped the pieces with a knife. 

I tried a few different brownie recipes that I adapted, but ultimately chose one that I adapted from my favorite brownies.  These are made with coconut oil, coconut sugar, a little raw honey and a gluten free flour blend.  I’m telling you, I don’t think anyone would have a clue if you didn’t tell them.  I love how these brownies turned out, so I made them again and added the chopped Healthy Butterfingers.  Heavenly!  They are fudgy and have a perfect chocolate and peanut butter ratio.  I was actually going to put a chocolate-peanut butter drizzle on the brownies, but decided they didn’t need it.

Healthy Gluten Free Butterfinger Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

½ cup coconut oil

½ cup cocoa powder

¾ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup maple syrup or honey (I liked the results with honey better but both worked)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

¼ cup gluten free flour blend

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

¾ cup, divided, *Healthy Homemade Butterfingers candy, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick foil. Spray lightly with coconut oil or brush it on. Set aside. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the coconut oil and cocoa powder over medium-low heat. Remove it from the heat when just barely melted. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the coconut sugar and honey or maple syrup and the vanilla and whisk together. Whisk in the eggs and combine well. Stir in the salt and flour. Fold in ½ cup of the chopped Butterfingers. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Scatter the remaining ½ cup of Butterfingers over the top of the batter. Bake for 23-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let brownies cool completely on wire rack. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until ready to cut and serve. Refrigeration not necessary, but gives them a great fudginess.

*Healthy Homemade Butterfingers, (vegan) by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Detoxinista

1 cup Grade A or B pure maple syrup

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup natural peanut butter, warmed and stirred until smooth

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choosing), melted

In a tall saucepan, combine the maple syrup and cream of tartar. Attach a candy thermometer to the saucepan. Set heat to medium. Let the mixture come to a boil, do not stir, this could take 5-10 minutes. Prepare a 9x9 inch square pan with nonstick foil. When the syrup has reached 300 degrees on the thermometer, remove from heat and add the warmed peanut butter and salt. Stir quickly to combine well. Spread mixture in the prepared pan. Spread the melted chocolate over the top of the Butterfinger mixture. Cool/harden in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove from pan/foil and break into desired sized pieces for sharing and snacking.

Chocolate PB2 Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free)

Sorry my blogging has been so intermittent.  I wish I had all the time in the world to share things here, but it just hasn’t been possible as of late.  That said, I don’t plan on just disappearing, me and my little ol’ blog.  So stick around!  You might recall not too long ago I shared some PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookies I made with PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter.  They were delicious.  In fact, Bell Plantation (the company that makes PB2) shared them on their Facebook page and they went crazy!  I knew they made a chocolate version of PB2 and had to get some and try it in cookies, but I couldn’t just stop there……

My friend, Paige, posted about David Lebovitz’ Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Granola.  It was calling my name and I had to make some.   I made it with changes using raw honey instead of maple syrup and coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar, I also used gluten free oats and Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.  It was a great granola!  (I need to make more!)  I swear I wrote down my changes somewhere so I could share my version of the recipe, but I CANNOT FIND IT!  sigh  It’s okay, David’s recipe is pretty simple and I really only made the few changes I mentioned, so check it out if you’re looking for a quick treat or breakfast.

I decided to use the Chocolate PB2 and make more cookies.  To bump up the delicious peanut butter and chocolate combination, I added some of the granola to the cookies, as well as more peanuts and lots of chocolate chips.  Score!  These were so good!  If you’ve been putting off trying the peanut butter powders, do not hesitate any longer.  It’s good stuff!

 Chocolate PB2 Granola Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup organic brown sugar

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup raw honey

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Granola (or granola of your choice)

4 tablespoons Chocolate PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter

2 tablespoons raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

1 cup gluten free flour blend

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chocolate chips of your choice)

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil and sugars.  Whisk together well.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine.  In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients (granola, PB2, cacao, flour, soda, baking powder and salt) and mix them together.  Add them to the creamed mixture (You can use a mixer, but it mixes just fine with a whisk!).  Stir with a wooden spoon until all combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and peanuts.  Drop by tablespoonsful (or using a cookie scoop) onto the parchment lined baking sheets spaced about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Let sit on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool. 

 Come on—they look delicious, huh!  I need to make some more.  I’ll try to be better at posting on my blog.  I miss it, I really do. 

PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free, Make with Coconut Oil)

Yay for cookies!  Sometimes I really miss cookies.  I’ve made some in the past (that follow my new requirements of gluten free, refined sugar free, healthier, etc.), but I don’t get to make and enjoy them as often as I used to and that was sure a fun part of my life.  Yes, I still make cookies for others and I love doing that, but it’s not the same as trying a new recipe, or coming up with something that I can actually eat, too.  So when that happens, it’s a big YAY for me. 

I like that I am eating healthier (for my health’s sake) these days, but I just miss grabbing something, trying things I haven’t had before and not worrying about it.  We all have things like that in our lives that come up and we just have to deal with it.  But blah, blah, this is getting boring—I made cookies!  And they are so good!  They are still a bit of a splurge for me, but I don’t feel guilty about having 1 or 2 now and then and it’s nice to know I have a little treat when I need one, okay—WANT one. ; )

I cannot and will not take all credit for these.  Jane at The Heritage Cook, a great gluten free pal of mine, whose blog I love visiting and finding great recipes, recently posted some cookies she made using PB2, which is a powdered peanut butter (healthier with all the oil removed, less fat, but still pretty darn tasty).  I had just bought some for the first time last week for our trip to Chicago as I wanted to be able to put peanut butter in my chocolate Shakeology shakes I make for breakfast every morning while we were there.  Normally at home, I just put in a tablespoon of peanut butter, but the PB2 seemed like a great thing to try while travelling.  It was perfect with my shakes and making them in the handheld blender I bought just for the trip with a little added banana I’d get from the hotel continental breakfast.  The link to Jane’s blog above has her recipe!

These cookies are perfectly chewy and have a great salty peanutty taste with just a few bites of chocolate here and there.  

We got back from our trip and a few days later Jane posted cookies she’d made with PB2.  Well, I took that as a big sign that I needed to make cookies with it, too.  I totally followed her recipe, but did make some changes.  Besides using a gluten free flour blend (which Jane did also), I used coconut oil instead of butter and some honey instead of some of the sugar.  I also added more PB2 than her recipe.  Definitely credit and props to her and I can’t wait to make these again.  “Oh, Honey, I’ll need some MORE PB2 soon!”  Maybe I’ll try the chocolate version of PB2 next.  It does have a little added sugar in it, but for two tablespoons of the powder (1 serving) it only has 1 gram of sugar, so it isn’t much and I’m calling it good enough for me.

PB2 Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Jane at The Heritage Cook

1 cup gluten free flour blend

3 tablespoons PB2 powdered peanut butter

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup organic coconut oil

1/2 cup organic brown cane sugar (not tightly packed)

1/4 cup raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large backyard fresh egg

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

1/3-1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or any chocolate of your choice)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the gluten free flour, PB2, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Whisk together.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, brown sugar, and honey and stir together until well combined.  It takes a little stirring by hand until the coconut oil is all combined, but don’t give up, it happens.  Add the vanilla and egg and whisk until well combined.  Stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips.  Using a cookie scoop, cookie dough into cookies spaced about 2 inches apart on baking sheet.  Bake for 9-10 minutes.  Remove from oven let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes.  Move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  I used a medium sized (regular sized) cookie/ice cream scoop and got 15 cookies.

 You know you want a bite!  Or your own cookie! ; )

 

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (Gluten Free)

I know there are some great health benefits to having raw honey in your diet each day.  A friend recently told me to just add some honey to some warm water in the mornings.  I did that.  And had to really choke it down, then ended up adding a little lemon juice and ice just to finish it.  So I decided to come up with my own way of getting some honey in everyday.  I put together these easy no bake granola bars and they have been my dose of daily honey for the last week or so.  Happy me!

These are perfectly sweet and just a little bar does me in for that little bit of sweetness I sometimes think I need.  No guilt since they are gluten free.  If you don’t want the chocolate chips, leave them out, they’d still be a great peanut butter and honey granola bar.  Because there isn’t a bunch of other sugars, you can really taste the honey, which I like.

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups gluten free old fashioned oats

1 cup gluten free crisp rice cereal (I used Nature’s Path Organic Chocolate Koala Crisp, mmm)

2/3 cup raw honey

1/3 cup natural peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Line a 9 inch square pan with nonstick foil.  Cover lightly with coconut oil.  Put the oats and cereal in a bowl and stir to combine.  In a microwave safe bowl or a small saucepan, put the honey and peanut butter in and heat just until barely heated enough to whisk together.  It only took 30 seconds in the microwave.  (If it gets too hot, let it cool slightly, you don’t want it to melt the chocolate chips—although that wouldn’t be the end of the world.)  Stir the vanilla into the honey peanut butter mixture.  Pour over the oats and cereal mixture and stir until all of dry mixture is moistened.  Stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips and fold together until they are well mixed.  Spread the granola bar mixture into the prepared pan and press down evenly.  Refrigerate the bars for about an hour.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges.  Peel the foil off the bars and cut into rectangles (I cut them into 12.)  Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge (they stay perfectly firm and chewy).

This potato masher is the perfect way to press down on things like these granola bars, or my other favorite—Rice Krispies Treats.  I just coat it with a little cooking spray or in this case, coconut oil (I don’t use cooking spray on things I eat), then tamp down all over the bars until they are even.  I find that it reaches in the corners better than a glass would or something like that.  And whenever I use my hand, I don’t like the sticky.  Try it sometime.

 Have you had any raw honey lately?  Don’t buy the commercial stuff, even though the label doesn’t say, many are filled with more than just honey.  Get ones that saw raw and unfiltered on them.

Healthy Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Truffles

Another pretty darn healthy treat!  Underneath that Enjoy Life chocolate is some pretty darn tasty peanut butter caramel—all natural, no sugar added.  Did you know if you blend dates in a food processor long enough, it becomes like a paste, or even better—like caramel.  No joke.  Sure you might think it’s not the same caramel you’re used to, you know, the kind made with lots of sugar, cream, butter and some kinds even high fructose corn syrup and other unmentionables.  And while it’s not just like your favorite caramel, it’s a darn good and much healthier substitute.

So next you’re thinking, “Ew, dates, I don’t like dates.”  Well, I’m being honest here and telling you if I gave you one of these truffle candies and didn’t tell you what was in it, you’d never know!  I’m super happy about this.  I’d seen a few other places on the internet that have made “homemade refined sugar free caramel” and just used my own decided measurements until I was happy with it.  I’m so happy I might need to forego this post right now and go make some more candy!

Oh, okay, I’ll share it with you first.  So first I made the caramel.  Then I knew I wanted peanut butter involved with the candy, so I added some natural, organic peanut butter.  Then just threw in a little salt, vanilla and coconut flour.  The coconut flour probably wasn’t necessary, but I wanted to make sure it would all bind together and I’d just be able to form the dough into balls.  I am happy with the results, so I plan to just leave it as is.  After the peanut butter caramel balls were formed, they spent a little time in the freezer just to make sure they were good and ready for a quick dunk in a chocolate bath.

 Healthy Peanut Butter Caramel Truffles, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1  1/4 cups pitted dates, soaked in water (not cold, but doesn’t have to be hot) for 30 minutes, then chopped (save the water)

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 tablespoon water

4 tablespoons natural, unsweetened peanut butter

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon coconut flour

4 ounces Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choice)

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Put the soaked, then drained and chopped dates in the bowl of a food processor.  Let the processor go for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Turn it on again and let it keep chopping up the dates.  Add the coconut oil and water and let it process for another couple minutes.  You’ll know when it is a paste caramel-like texture.  (It is not quite as smooth and liquid runny like some caramel, but it’s good!)  Add the peanut butter, salt, vanilla and coconut flour.  Pulse until well combined.  Remove the blade from the processor bowl and scoop the filling into balls.  (I used a small cookie scoop, it’s probably about 1 tablespoon.)  Lay them on a waxed paper lined plate or small baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. 

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe glass bowl in 30 second intervals on 7-8 power.  Stir after each 30 seconds, it only takes about 1  1/2 minutes, add the coconut oil before the last time.  Stir until smooth.  Let it sit for a few minutes before dunking the candy into it.  Using a fork, set the candy on the fork and dunk it into the melted chocolate.  Spoon chocolate over the top until it is all covered.  Tap the fork on the edge of the glass bowl, letting the chocolate smooth over the surface.  Using another fork, push the chocolate covered candy onto a wax paper lined plate.  They start to harden immediately but once you have the all coated, put the plate in the refrigerator for a few minutes.  Makes about 16.  Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  They are great cold, but you can have them out of the refrigerator before serving for a while, too.   

Make yourself a healthy treat for Easter this weekend—or anytime year round!

Classic Criss Cross Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes the thing to do is just go with the gool ol’ classics.  I needed/wanted to make some cookies for a couple people and went with the perfect Classic Criss Cross Peanut Butter Cookies.  I just finished making them (the recipe makes more than four dozen cookies) and I think I’ll make another batch because I know the boys will love having these on hand. 

Cookie dough is almost always best after it has been chilled.  Many have asked me through the years why their cookies spread so much and are flat and one of the number one reasons I tell them is because they didn’t chill the dough.  When the butter is too soft and you use a cookie dough right after making it, it can make the cookies spread too much when they bake because all the ingredients are already warm.  I made this dough yesterday and it just didn’t work out for me to get them baked until today.  But the dough really only needs a couple hours in the refrigerator.  I haven’t tried it with these, I’m going to—but my favorite thing to do is make cookie dough, form cookie dough balls and freeze them.  I almost always have some kind of cookie dough to grab from the freezer and all I have to do is set them on a baking sheet, preheat the oven and bake them.  When you bake them from frozen, you just add a couple minutes to the baking time.

This cookie dough is perfect after it has chilled for a couple hours to roll into balls.  These cookies are then rolled in granulated sugar.  Once you place them on a cookie sheet, you can press down on them with a fork in a criss cross pattern.  Another thing I love about these cookies—they are all perfectly round.

Very similar recipes can be found all over the internet for these types of classic peanut butter cookies.  I adapted a recipe I found at Sally's Baking Addiction.

Classic Criss Cross Peanut Butter Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chunky peanut butter (you can use smooth, too)

3 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar (for rolling the cookie dough balls)

In the bowl of a mixer, beat together the butter and sugars.  Scrapes the sides of the bowl.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.  Scrape sides of bowl again.  Add the peanut butter and beat until well combined.  Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix on low just until combined.  Scrape the dough into an airtight container and refrigerate for about 2 hours (or longer, the dough is great stored in the refrigerator for a couple days).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (325 degrees F for convection oven-I love baking cookies in a convection oven with 3 baking sheets at a time.)  Form walnut-sized balls of dough and roll them in the sugar.  Place about an inch and a half apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit on the baking sheets for a couple minutes.  Move cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 54 cookies.

*If you make the cookie dough balls and freeze them, press them down with the criss cross pattern with a fork before freezing,  (store in an airtight container or freezer bag) set them on the baking sheets while the oven is preheating and add 1-2 minutes to the bake time.  Also note—I have since baked these fresh from making the dough (without chilling) and while the dough is soft and harder to form into balls, mine baked the same and look great.  I have even tried forming the dough balls, criss crossing them, then freezing them for 15 minutes and they also baked great for 12 minutes.

Pile the cookies onto plates and give them away (okay, maybe have a few if you must).  Wish I could!  I already know peanut butter cookies are great and there is nothing better than the classics!

 

Peanut Butter Overload Chocolate Chip Cookies

You ready for these?  I mentioned in my last post about the Almond Joy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies that I also made some with lots of peanut buttery goodness.  Well, here they are.  I know, took me long enough.  Trying to get my blogging mo-jo back. 

The reason for these cookies was because I’d bought a couple bags of the mini Nutter Butter cookies and after eating so many of them, the boys decided they were tired of them.  So I watched another bag of them just sit in my baking cupboard.  I decided to chop them up and put them in My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, yes—these:

But that wasn’t enough.  I put an entire bag of peanut butter chips and Reese’s Pieces in them, too, along with chocolate chips.  Overload, I’m telling you.  If you are a peanut butter and chocolate fan, you’ll love these!  These were well liked at Kevin’s surprise 40th birthday party I had for him a couple weeks ago. 

Peanut Butter Overload Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

8 ½ ounces cake flour (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons) (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and swept level with a knife)

8 ½ ounces bread flour (1 and 2/3 cups) (lightly spooned and swept)

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

10 ounces (1 ¼ cups) light brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup Nutter Butter cookies, roughly chopped

10 ounce package peanut butter chips

10 ounce package mini Reese’s Pieces candies

8 ounces milk chocolate chips

3 ounces dark chocolate chips (you can use any combination and/or amount of chocolate you’d like)

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Then add the vanilla and combine.  Scrape the sides of the bowl. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Put the mix-ins in the bowl and carefully fold together with rubber spatula just until combined.  Scoop with a 2 ounce (1/4 cup scoop).  You should get 24 scoops.  Put them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Cover with foil and freeze (or refrigerate).

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and put the cookies on an air bake sheet, only 5 cookies per sheet.  Bake from frozen for about 12 minutes.  Check the cookies, remove from the oven and with the sides of a metal spatula, if any of the cookies are misshapen and not nicely rounded, push the spatula lightly on to the cookies where they need rounded around the edges.  Decide if they need another minute or two in the oven.  Sometimes I think they do, sometimes they are perfect.  Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool until you can’t stand it anymore and have to taste one.  (If you have a convection oven, you can bake 2 or 3 cookie sheets at a time.  Every oven is different, but even though baking on convection you should lower the temperature 25 degrees, I still leave mine at 350 for these.)  Test yours for best results.

If you haven’t before, try kicking things up with chocolate chip cookies, be creative, add things to change them.  Mmmm!

Here’s some others I’ve done before with the same recipe.  (It’s the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, I’m telling you!!)  These are a favorite by many when I have freeze dried raspberries available to put in the cookies.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ann Romney’s Peanut Butter Oat M&M Cookies and My Gluten Free Version of Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Over the weekend I made Ann Romney's M&M Cookies, which I’ve made before (linked here).  I made them for a family get together but I made a few slight changes and wanted to post my version of the recipe.  Though you can find the recipe on my first link here to Family Circle Magazine that has the recipe posted.  As well, you can find the recipe in Ann’s wonderful cookbook, The Romney Family Table.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—I sure love Ann and her family and all that they stand for in life.  Not to mention, she is an LDS mother of all boys who has MS—we are twins! ; )  Though I would die if my husband ever decided to run for president!

For this recipe, I used less sugar and I added salt.  I also used milk chocolate chips, though her recipes doesn’t say which kind, she probably uses semi-sweet.  The reason I decided to make these cookies was because I had a bag of mini M&Ms to use.  These came out a little thicker than the first time I made them, which is actually what I wanted and worked because I used less sugar.  Sugar melting in a cookie is one of the things that make them spread more.  Everyone who ate the cookies at the family gathering said they were great!  I felt a little jealous that I didn’t get to eat one.

Ann Romney’s Peanut Butter Oat M&M Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (not packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1  1/2 cups peanut butter (I used smooth, Ann uses crunchy)

1 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4  1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

2/3 cup mini M&M’s candies (or regular sized ones)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, peanut butter, sugars and corn syrup.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add the baking soda, salt and oats and mix until well combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and M&Ms with a spatula.  Drop dough (with a cookie scoop about 2 tablespoonsful) onto baking sheets leaving about 2 inches between each.  Bake for about 14 minutes, until lightly browned.  Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 3 dozen.

I decided these cookies would and should be made gluten free (after all, they don’t have flour in the first place).  So I made some for me!  I used coconut oil instead of butter.  I also used coconut sugar and a little organic brown cane sugar instead of granulated sugar and brown sugar.  Raw honey replaced the little bit of corn syrup.  Gluten free oats and organic natural peanut butter along with some Enjoy Life chocolate chips rounded out my version.  Yay, they’re good!

Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup organic cane brown sugar

3/4 cup organic natural peanut butter

1/2 tablespoon raw honey

1  1/2 large eggs (for 1/2 an egg, whisk the egg then measure out 2 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/4 cups gluten free old fashioned rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choice)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, coconut sugar and brown sugar.  Mix together well.  Add the peanut butter and honey.  Stir together until well combined with a spatula. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Fold in the oats, baking soda and salt.  Next fold in the chocolate chips.  Scoop dough onto baking sheets.  Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown.  Let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 18 cookies.

Happy me!  Happy you if you make either one of these cookies!

Canadian Honey Drop Cookies, Gluten Free—Secret Recipe Club

I am a big cheater.  Besides making these cookies gluten free and using unrefined sugar (no big deal), instead of sandwiching them with jam/jelly which was indicated in the recipe, I used chocolate and peanut butter.  I can’t help it.  I didn’t have any sugar free jam, so it’s not really my fault and these are then healthier than if I would have used a sugar-laden jam.  Am I right?  Instead I used a combination of all natural peanut butter, a touch of raw honey and some melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips.  Win---WIN!

These cookies were really good.  I found them on my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for May.   My blog assignment was Anna’s blog, Cheese With Noodles.  Anna lives in Alaska with her husband, bunnies and cat.  She’s crafty, likes gardening and cooking and baking.  I like her!

She got this Canadian Honey Drop Cookies recipe from the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book.  I would love to have a copy of that one!  I like that she pointed out that these cookies aren’t Canadian and they aren’t drop cookies, really.  But that doesn’t matter if you make them and like them, right?  When I saw that they are made with brown sugar and I had just recently bought some organic brown sugar, as well as with honey, I knew these were the cookies I had to make.  I’m happy I did.  I actually ate most of these cookies individually with no filling to sandwich them.  They are good by themselves!  I was thinking of drizzling them with melted chocolate, then I thought of what my favorite thing is with honey and knew I needed to put some peanut butter in them.  Man, I sure miss a good ol’ peanut butter and honey sandwich! 

Yes, I could have just eaten one cookie topped with the peanut butter-chocolaty goodness, but that would not have been very lady-like and would have been kind of a drippy mess.  So, a sandwich it was!  Check out the recipe Anna posted.  Here’s my gluten free version.  I also used coconut oil instead of shortening, though I might try them again with some organic Spectrum palm shortening.  Anna’s cookies were pretty thick and mine were soft and flat (still good!).  If I make them again and don’t plan to sandwich them, I will use shortening.  I have found that coconut oil really spreads with cookies.  I knew it would when I made them this way, so it is all good.

Canadian Honey Drop Cookies, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup coconut oil, 112 grams (or organic Spectrum palm shortening)

1/2 cup organic cane brown sugar, not packed (80 grams)

1 large egg

3 tablespoons raw honey (63 grams)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (196 grams) (I used Premium Gold ancient grains gluten free blend)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

*Optional filling

Jam/Jelly of your choice

Natural Peanut Butter

Combination of peanut butter, honey, melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Beat together well the oil/shortening with the brown sugar.  Add the egg and beat well.  Add the honey and vanilla a mix until fluffy.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.  Stir it into the sugar mixture until all combined.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate dough for a couple hours (be careful, refrigerating something with coconut oil, hardens it up quite a bit, but I was still able to form dough balls).  The chilling step may not be necessary if using shortening. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll dough into one inch balls.  Place on baking sheets about 3 inches apart.  You can flatten them slightly with your hand if you’d like them flat, which works well for a sandwich cookie.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.  Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.   Fill cookies with jam or optional peanut butter/chocolate mixture, if desired.  Makes 16 cookies

I filled one with just peanut butter and it was a bit runny/messy.  Still tasted great though!  The melted chocolate really helped hold the filling inside, especially after I refrigerated it for a short time.

My newest plan/goal with my Secret Recipe Club assignments is to also make a savory dish from the blog.  You might have noticed, I always go right for cookies or some other dessert.  That’s just who I am.  But I actually eat quite healthy as well, especially after being diagnosed with MS and going gluten free and off refined sugars and most processed foods.  It’s been an interesting road to go down.    I miss certain things, like a good old plate of pasta or some delicious homemade whole grain bread……….so looking through Anna’s blog, I wanted to find something to make for dinner one night.  My family seems to get tired of the same number of things we have often.  While I make spaghetti a lot and one other pasta dish that is made with an Alfredo sauce, I wanted to find something else.  I ran across the Dreamy Baked Ziti she posted in March of last year.  I decided we need to try a new pasta.  Anna spoke about how this was a new favorite with lots of creamy cheese and a flavorful tomato sauce.  I liked that it did not have ground beef in it.  I was a little skeptical that my family would not like it having no meat in it, so at the last minute, I tossed some chopped pepperoni into the sauce.

Besides that addition, I made just a few slight changes, so I’m not going to retype the recipe, that Anna got from Mel’s Kitchen Café, who got it from Cook’s Illustrated.  It’s like making a lasagna with an ample amount of a creamy cheese mixture full of lots of mozzarella and parmesan.  This mixture called for some dried parsley, but I used fresh chopped parsley. 

Just before I added the pepperoni to the sauce, I took a scoop of it and a scoop of the cheese mixture and made me a little portion of gluten free pasta.  I made a perfect one-serving ramekin of this Dreamy Baked Gluten Free Ziti for me.  I thought it was delicious!

I sure wish I would have made more of it for me for other meals!  This was a heavenly “splurge” meal for me and I would do it again in a heartbeat. ; )

I will for sure make the ziti again…..sometime….soon.  So many delicious recipes on Anna’s blog, Cheese With Noodles. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Raspberry Hot Cereal with Driscoll Raspberries

So the wonderful folks at Driscoll's sent me some more coupons for berries.  Happy Dance!  Thanks, Driscoll’s.  They didn’t ask me to do a post or anything, I’m just doing it because I wanted to tell you about my favorite breakfast as of late.  I was having smoothies everyday, but it’s just been too cold and I don’t want smoothies right now.  Since deciding to eat gluten free, I found some Gluten Free Hot Cereal that I’ve been using for my morning breakfasts. 
I don’t really have an exact recipe, but this is so delicious, you could try it with oats, too.  In fact, I usually do a couple tablespoons of the dry hot cereal and a couple tablespoons of gluten free quick oats.  I put them in a small saucepan with some almond milk.  Of course, you could use any milk or even water, but I definitely prefer my hot cereal made with milk.  I add a pinch of salt and then I add some washed raspberries, probably about half a cup.  Let it all start cooking away over medium-low heat.

Stir it a bit.  The raspberries will start to break down (ha, I almost typed break dance!).  Stir occasionally and if it starts to bubble and boil too much, turn the heat down.

It needs to cook for a good 5-10 minutes.  When the milk is all absorbed into the cereal, it will be ready.

Doesn’t that look good?  That would be fine as is, but I can’t ever seem to leave certain things out of my food—like chocolate and peanut butter.  After putting the hot cereal into a bowl, I always sprinkle it with some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and add a spoonful of natural peanut butter.  While eating this wonderful warm breakfast, I swirl the peanut butter and chocolate around so there is some of the melty deliciousness in each bite.  Looks so decadent—but it’s actually pretty darn healthy!  Try it.  And as your momma always told you not to, go ahead—play with your food!   What’s your favorite thing to add to hot cereal/oatmeal? 

I had been also drizzling the cereal with a little agave nectar, sometimes honey or you could even do some maple syrup, but lately I’ve not been adding any of those and I still think the cereal is sweet enough without any of those.  Speaking of this delicious raspberry hot cereal breakfast, it’s that time right now.  And I know just what I’m going to make!

Honey Nut Popcorn—Secret Recipe Club

In my new adventures of giving up gluten and refined sugar, I am sometimes finding it difficult to find treats that will cure certain cravings I have.  I’ve been using raw honey in many things.  When looking through my October blog assignment for the Secret Recipe Club, I found one of the things I’ve been wanting—something crunchy with a little sweetness!

This Honey Nut Popcorn hit the nail on the head!  I was assigned Kate’s blog, Kitchen Trial and Error.  There is definitely lots to see and try on her blog.  The cookies alone that she’s posted made me pine for those good ol’ days of making lots and lots of cookies.  You know, I haven’t given up on making goodies for other people, so I do still get to dapple in the good stuff when I want.  Kate lives in New York state, has a hubby and a cute baby boy (Boys rule!).

While we always have a full fruit basket here and plenty of other healthy choices for snacks, there is definitely a fair share of other treats available often.  As I mentioned, I’ve been craving popcorn.  My current favorite is white popped corn that I make with our Presto Stirring Popcorn Popper.  You put a little oil in the bottom of it, then add the popcorn and a little arm turns it around and around as it pops.  I’ve been loving using coconut oil and just putting salt on the popcorn.  You’ve got to try the white popcorn, the kernels are smaller and more tender.  You can get the white popcorn in most stores. 

Along came this honey nut popcorn and I was sold on trying it.  I did adapt Kate’s recipe that she got from Healthy Food For Living.  That recipe used some honey and some corn syrup.  I just used all honey.  Also instead of vegetable oil, I used coconut oil.  The honey nut popcorn is great!  Some peanut butter and peanuts are added to make it nutty.  It would be fun to try with almond butter and almonds.  That’s it, I’ve just decided, as soon as the honey nut popcorn I made is gone, I’ll have to try that.

Such simple ingredients and still a great treat.  Sure, it might not be just the same as a buttery caramel popcorn, but it works for me.  The boys tasted it and like it okay, but are leaving it alone and I’ve been enjoying it here and there throughout this week. 

Honey Nut Popcorn, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Kate at Kitchen Trial and Error

4 quarts popped popcorn (1/2 cup kernels) *I used white kernels

1/2 cup salted peanuts

2 tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/2 cup raw honey

1/4 cup smooth, natural peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. 

Put the popped popcorn in a large bowl with the peanuts. 

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut oil, honey and peanut butter.  Stir constantly and cook for two minutes.  Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla and salt.  Pour the peanut butter/honey mixture over the popcorn and peanuts and stir to coat evenly using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula.  Spread the popcorn in an even layer on the baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Cool completely before eating and store in an airtight container.

Great sweet, crunchy treat for snitching a handful now and then!  Great blog, Kate!  Really enjoyed it and will be back.