Monday, January 23, 2012

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

This is a terrific peanut butter cookie recipe, both for people on a gluten free diet and those not, as it doesn't call for any specialty flours or specialty ingredients. Its also pretty easy to prepare.
No, it's not sugar free or particularly healthy, but it at least is healthier than store bought cookies with all their chemical additives and preservatives.

Well, I have to admit, I didn't even make these for my family to munch on (for the most part). My friend and I are throwing a joint party this weekend for our friends and community to celebrate the birth of our babies, and I made these cookies to serve then. (Yea, we tend to do joint celebrations here. Double birthday party for the kids, double birthday celebration for me and the hubby. If my daughter doesn't share a birthday, we'll do the celebration with a friend! Double the fun, half the cost, I say...)
You might wonder why I feel its correct for me to serve people food that I think is unhealthy. If its unhealthy for my family, its unhealthy for everyone, and I shouldn't be serving it to others, right? Isn't it hypocritical for me to serve others foods that I myself won't eat?
I mean, maybe it is slightly, and if I had all the money in the world, maybe I'd serve only the healthiest food to everyone, no matter who they were. But the fact is, most healthy food is more expensive, and healthy sweeteners locally are a fortune, and if my guests do eat sugar and do eat white flour, etc... I'm not going to pay through my nose for better ingredients when my guests don't care. I'd rather save the money and use it to buy healthier food for my family, people who actually do care about eating healthier.
There are, however, certain things I won't serve guests, even if they don't care, and those are the things that I think are just so terrible that I can't justify feeding it to guests because it feels akin to poisoning them. (Those things are fake sugar, margarine, food coloring, artificial flavoring, and soy oil.) Even if it means spending more money, I will avoid serving these absolute no-nos to my guests.
But yes, I will serve guests sugar, and white flour.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups peanut butter
1 tablespoon molasses (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:
1. Mix together all the ingredients.

2. Using a small spoon, drop spoonfuls cookie dough onto a cookie tray lined with parchment paper. These cookies will really spread out while cooking, so leave a decent amount of space between each one. Try to make the balls of dough no larger than a superball.

3. Bake the cookies at 350 until they solidify, approximately 8-10 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing them from the tray.

Note: This recipe works as is with most peanut butters. The peanut butter that I use, a local brand that is all natural and is VERY runny makes cookies that are too soft unless they are burnt. If you're local and using the all natural "green" peanut butter, add a few spoons of tapioca starch or potato starch to this to solidify it a bit. If you're not local and are using regular peanut butter (one that is solid and not runny like tahini paste), you can skip this.

Have you ever made similar peanut butter cookies? Do you think you'd try these out?
How do you feel about serving guests food that you think are unhealthy? Do you only serve guests, even large crowds, foods that fit to your standard of healthy eating? Do you have any absolute no-nos that you won't feed guests, and if so, what are they?

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2 comments:

  1. Oh, I am with you on being okay with using white sugar and white flour when cooking/baking for guests at a party! I used to make things my way (whole grains, sucanat or honey, better oils, etc.) and people didn't like things as well. When I decided to tighten the budget that is one of the first things I gave up; brownies for a potluck can be made with white flour, white sugar, and vegetable oil. So can cookies and breads for gifts. Why spend extra on the healthy ingredients when people either don't care or actually prefer the unhealthy ingredients?

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