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.

Chocolate-Triple Hazelnut Truffles - Gluten Free

Chocolate-Hazelnut Truffles

I'm a bit behind on my posting. I have so much stuff stored in my photo files and my little kitchen notebook that I will have content for the next 3 months...I just have to actually post it!

In the above photo are Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles that I made around Christmas. Yes, Christmas. They were part of a trio of gluten free treats that I made for the holidays. And believe me, I do realize that was 6 months ago, but better late than never. Besides, you can make these treats anytime.

I got this recipe from Cooking Light and I when I made it, I did NOT have Frangelico. I had some hazelnut flavoring and Kahlua, so I used mostly Kahlua and a bit of hazelnut flavoring. I, as usual, eyeballed it. As for the chocolate, I used dark chocolate because I prefer it. I also used a melon baller. It makes for uniform sized balls. HA! In any event, they turned out de-lish!

Go forth and try it out!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons hazelnut-chocolate spread (such as Nutella) 
• 2 1/2 tablespoons Frangelico (hazelnut-flavored liqueur)...I actually have used Kahlua
• 1 tablespoon light-colored corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• Dash of salt (if you want it a bit saltier, sprinkle 1 tsp coarse sea salt in after chocolate melts and has cooled a minute and then poor into a shallow dish)
• 5 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped (I used dark chocolate only because I like it better)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped salted hazelnuts, toasted

Preparation

Combine the first 6 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Cook over simmering water until chocolate melts (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly. Spoon mixture into a shallow dish. Let stand at room temperature 6 hours or up to overnight.
Scoop about 1 tablespoon chocolate mixture with a spoon. (Or use a melon baller - that's my favorite way) Dredge in nuts; roll into a ball. Repeat procedure with remaining chocolate mixture and nuts.

White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce

White Chicken Enchiladas

I have decided Pinterest is just one giant, online, community cookbook. You can find a recipe for nearly everything. If you don't know what you want to make for dinner, chances are you can log on to Pinterest and find a photo so appetizing, so well styled, that you will repin it because it looks so damn good. Then all of a sudden you see another and another, and you have repinned 10 different delicious looking recipes on your food board. And, if you are like me, you already have about 100 different recipes on your food board.
Every once in awhile, I try these recipes that I have pinned. I take a photo of my creation - although it doesn't look quite as appetizing as the well styled, professionally photographed one on Pinterest - and write about it on my blog. Today, I am going to share the White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce.
I have not been eating Gluten much, so I modified this recipe to be a Gluten free version. I used corn tortillas instead of flour in the sauce, I used corn starch or you could use Arrow Root. For the most part, it was fairly easy and pretty tasty and not too spicy. It could even be classified as kid friendly - it certainly is Damon friendly! It's a good one if you are looking for something quick to make and it makes for good left overs too.

Ingredients
8 soft taco size flour tortillas (or corn if you need to be gluten free)
2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese, divided
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour (2 tablespoons corn starch if you need to be gluten free)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
Chopped, fresh cilantro for garnish
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray; set aside. Mix the chicken together with 1 cup of the cheese.
2. Distribute the chicken and cheese mixture evenly among the tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down in the prepared pan.
3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, whisking until smooth. Continue cooking over medium heat until sauce is thick and bubbly.
4. Stir in the sour cream and diced green chiles. Pour the sauce in an even layer over the enchiladas.
5. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Sprinkle with cilantro just before serving.