Pinterest Review: Grain-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

My version of the PB & Chocolate Chip Cookie

I pinned this recipe from Texanerin Baking a couple of months ago and have been meaning to try it. It's been floating around Pinterest for awhile. Recently I saw a couple of posts on Facebook saying that this recipe is a "must save" so I thought I had better try it. I definitely needed to see what the hype was about.

OK. These cute little bites are pretty darn good and REALLY easy to make. If you are scared of making cookies out of chickpeas - get over it. The cookie dough actually taste nearly the same as flour peanut butter cookie dough. And as you can see from my photos of my cookies above, they are gooey! Now, I did not make any serious changes. I used a whole can 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and patted dry. It measured out to 1-1/2 cups and I found that I needed 12 minutes to bake them instead of 10. Other than those 2 things, I followed the recipe.

If you are going gluten free and/or dairy free - these cookies are great. I'm not going to pretend that once baked they taste as good as a flour, butter, sugar, regular old peanut butter cookie...but they are surprisingly tasty. But don't take my word for it - try it yourself! The recipe is below or you can go to
www.texanerin.com

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter, SunButter Natural or almond butter (I used Trader Joe's Creamy, Salted Natural Peanut Butter)
• ¼ cup (80 grams) honey (I used Trader Joe's Organic Raw Honey)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it
• ½ cup (90 grams) chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips, if needed)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.
2. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
3. With wet hands, form into 1½" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

I Love Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I have stated before, I am OK at baking cookies - my sister is far better at it than I am. Hers always turn out chewy and delicious no matter what recipe she uses. Last night, I made some Chocolate Chip cookies for a friend of mine. I didn't want to make her any old kind of cookie, I wanted her to have something delicious like my sister's. So I had to go searching for a recipe and I think I found it.
Let me tell you straight away, this cookie is full fat goodness. It's not a spelt flour, agave syrup substituted for sugar type cookie that I have been making. This cookie is the real deal. I found it on All-Recipes and it is even called "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies".
This recipe makes exactly 48 cookies. I did my own thing by using white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks and omitted the walnuts. The dough recipe is what I was really after.  They turned out delicious and the next day still delicious.
If you are looking for a nice chewy cookie recipe, this is the recipe to use.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1 cup white chocolate chips and 1 cup dark chocolate chunks)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with the salt. Mix in the flour 1 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts(if using).

Drop about a 1 tablespoon scoop of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

*I found that living at sea level, baking is a bit different. 10 minutes exactly is what I needed.

Cooking from Recipes: A Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie made by my sister, Jenny

It's been a really long time since I have posted anything to this blog and I really don't have an excuse. I guess it must be life, it gets in my way sometimes. I do have a plan to keep my posting on track. I have been talking with my friend about cooking from recipes. I have all of these magazine subscriptions and cookbooks and I think it makes sense to cook from the recipes within them. I do really like "freestyle" cooking and making new things up, but sometimes it is great to cook from recipes. The magazines I subscribe to and the cookbooks that I own have really great recipes, ideas, and techniques.  I mean, that is why I have them...right? So, for a while I think I am going to share with you the recipes that I have tried and to start, I am going to post a recipe that my sister tried. 

My sister, Jenny, she is quite the baker.  Her cookies always turn out way better, softer, and far more delicious than mine. Now that she has 2 kids, she has to find ways to get them to eat healthy - and sometimes she will sneak in vegetables to baked goods! Recently, she sent me a photo of some healthier, whole wheat cookies that she baked from a recipe in the October Cooking Light.  When she tried the dough, she was a bit unsure as to how they were going to turn out - BUT once they came out of the oven she said they were delicious! If you want to try out a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is lower in calories without sacrificing that yummy taste - try these cookies! 
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crunchy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

My original plan here was to make a "healthier" cookie. I don't know if I quite accomplished that, but it is certainly not ALL bad for you as it is made w/low gluten flour, flax seed, and oatmeal. It is Damon tested and he said they were good, but they do not flatten out like other cookies and they are very crunchy. So try it and low gluten flour is not required. I used it because I wanted to try it. I most likely will do 1/2 cup low gluten and 1/2 cup regular flour next time.

OK, here we ago: a ton of ingredients!

1 Stick unsalted butter
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1 cup Low gluten Flour (or 1/2 cup low and 1/2 cup regular)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 C. Steel Cut Oats
4 oz. Dark Chocolate Chips
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
A dash or 2 of Nutmeg
1/3 C. chopped almonds
3 Tablespoons Flax Seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter, egg, sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, powder, oats, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and salt. Blend until ingredients are totally incorporated. Next add the almonds, flax seed and chocolate chips until incorporated.

Make into 24 even balls 1.5" in diameter and then slightly flatten. Bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

I did the calculations and they are about 160 calories per cookie but each cookie has around 7 grams of fiber and protein in them. Plus all the other good stuff that you get from the ingredients naturally.

Please feel free to tweak it and let me know any other variation or if something worked better for you.

Enjoy.