Hooray! My favorite time of year!
It's that time again! Crisp cool weather is coming soon (well, at least in other parts of the country...we are in Houston, after all), leaves are changing, there's excitement in the air. That's right! It's time for back to school! I don't have children but I am so excited that they're going back to school I can hardly contain myself.
For you busy moms out there, it means more structured meal planning, after school snacks, and a multitude of fundraisers, school parties, and the like. Well I'm here to help. Throughout the school year I'll be posting easy recipes that are healthy and sure to please your little ones (or not so little ones in the case of always-hungry teenagers with their ridiculous metabolism).
Here's the first one. These scrumptious peanut butter cookies are vegan and gluten free. If your child is allergic to peanuts, you can substitute just about any other nut butter, or even sunflower butter for those with tree nut allergies. The mixture of half organic brown sugar and half coconut sugar and a touch of raw honey make these lower glycemic than most other conventional cookies made with pure cane sugar. The addition of gluten free oat flour give these cookies a boost of fiber and the peanut butter adds protein to satiate your hungry kid's appetite after a hard day of learning.
Don't be afraid to play with the ingredients and make subsitutions of your own to make these cookies uniquely yours! Make it an activity that your kids can participate in for some quality family time in the kitchen. Enjoy!
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten free) - Print Friendly
serving size: 3 cookies
servings: approximately 14
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
- 1 C Peanut Butter
- 1/2 C Organic Brown Sugar
- 1/2 C Coconut Sugar
- 2 Tbs raw honey
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2/3 C Gluten Free Oat Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats and pulverized them in a food processor to make flour)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 C water
Instructions:
Cream together peanut butter, sugars and honey until smooth and creamy. Beat in vanilla until well combined. In another bowl, mix together oat flour and baking soda and then stir into peanut butter mixture and stir completely. Add water and mix thoroughly. Roll into 2" balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat sheet.
Press each ball with fingers or a fork dipped on oat flour to make a criss-cross pattern.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and set. Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheet an additional 1-2 minutes to allow cookies to cool slightly and set. Place on a cooling rack and then in an airtight container once completely cooled.
