grain free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

"These are like real cookies!"  He had to stop himself to backtrack.  "But I mean all the cookies you make are good.  Mmhm.  It's just that these are like real cookies."

So, they have the Benjamin Seal of Approval.

In my experience, most people are (naturally) a little skeptical of grain free baked goods.  For good reason, really, since a lot of them are weird to those of us who don't eat this way full-time.  So, I have to admit that there are very few recipes I'd make and share with an audience of normal people (that is, people who don't eat things like almond flour, coconut flour and arrowroot starch), but THIS recipe -- THIS RECIPE -- is one I would share.

I should preface that by saying that these cookies may not be as sweet as your normal, run-of-the-mill cookies, however they still have a good texture (in my opinion -- and apparently, in the opinion of Ben), they are DELICIOUS, and they could pass for real cookies.

Anyway, anyway.. the recipe.

Grain Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 large eggs
1 cup creamy peanut butter*
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips**
1/2 cup chopped nuts***

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl, lightly beat eggs.  Add peanut butter, sugar, almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

With moistened hands (or a trusty cookie scoop, like I used), roll dough 1 heaping tablespoon at a time, into balls.  Place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until cookies are puffed and golden, 12-14 minutes (almost exactly 12 minutes at our house).  Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

*We use Smart Balance, because we just love creeeamy, sticky-delicious peanut butter like we had when we were kids, but it uses palm and flaxseed oil instead of hydrogenated soybean oil, and it uses molasses instead of high fructose corn syrup AND it tastes pretty durn close to Jif.

**I used the Guittard (sp?) brand 63% cacoa chocolate chips.  They're dark-but-not-too-dark and they taste yumm.  I think it's the red package.

***This time, I put in pecans (because they're my favorite for baking with), but the original recipe that I altered -- pretty dramatically -- to get this one, called for peanuts, which I'm sure more normal people would consider to be a lot more predictable since this is a peanut butter recipe.  Still, I love pecans and I make no apologies!


For me (with trusty cookie scoop in hand), this recipe makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies.  If you made smaller cookies, though, I imagine it wouldn't be difficult to get 2 dozen out of a batch.  Alternatively, just double the batch and get about 3 dozen.  I certainly would if I weren't afraid I'd eat them all.

What's your favorite cookie recipe (grain free or not)?