Flourless PB&CC Cookies

Sometimes, a girl just needs to be able to enjoy the specifics of something. You know what I mean, right?

No?

Okay, examples. You come home from work and your sweetie lover honey muffin offers to give you a foot massage after a long day. He says, "come here my darling oogly-moogly, come take a nap after a long days work, you deserve it!" and you think to yourself: gee, that sure does sound awesome. But then you realize that even though that may sound appeasing, it's totally not what you're craving as a stress reliever. Something bright to end the day.

I know all you woman are like "yeah right, like I'd pass up a foot massage". But you know what I mean!

Sometimes, a woman needs specifics.

Sometimes, a woman needs... cookies.

And peanut butter. And milk chocolate. And she needs them to be gluten-free. Not because she has a gluten intolerance but because she has no flour and after working 10 hours the last thing she wants to do is haul her butt to Wal-mart (don't even pretend that you don't shop there, bakers) and pick up some flour for cookies.
So what does she do? She exclaims, "I need cookies!" and she makes them. Plain. Simple. Easy. It's no foot massage. It's no walk on the beach. But sometimes, it doesn't have to be any of that. Sometimes it just has to be something simple.

That, and I believe that a cookie a day keeps insanity away.


I think that even if we aren't all entitled to the best things on earth, we should still enjoy the little things we can. Something as simple as a cookie or maybe just a glass of wine before bed is things that we hold dear and near to our hearts. It's our special cool-down time. The part of our day where we can just breathe. Sometimes we share those moments with others. Sometimes we share them with strangers. Sometimes, we share them with God. Whoever it is you're sharing your special moments with, don't forget to take them when the opportunity strikes. You only live once. So even if some kid at your job decides it would be a fun idea to throw all the bouncy balls onto a display of stacked books, or some british guy gives you a hard time at the register because you have to see his ID for something, don't sweat it. Don't let it bring you down. Go home. Make cookies. Snuggle your sweetie-pie. Heck, do both at the same time (but please be careful not to burn yourself ;) ). Or just go for a walk, enjoy a glass of wine... whatever strikes your fancy

And if you don't have any flour on hand, make these cookies.

Speaking of these cookies, they totally hit the spot a few days ago for me. These are very simply sweet. I used a combination of honey roasted creamy peanut butter and extra crunchy peanut butter to give them a slight salty/sweet taste. Ontop of that, I threw in some MILK chocolate chips (not semi-sweet... I'm not a fan of semi-sweet chocolate chips in my peanut butter cookies), and sprinkled them with salt just before baking. The result? A very, very chewy, but light, peanut butter cookie. Perfect to dunk in milk or eat in itself. Probably a little too perfect. ;) I also added some oats for texture, and ditched the egg yolks since I didn't need the extra density (or fat, admittedly). Even without the yolks, the cookies came out awesome. I did refrigerate these for awhile, though, so just be aware if it's still really humid/hot where you are to stick these in the freezer for a half an hour before baking. It'll save you the headache.

Flourless PB&CC Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey roasted creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 egg whites
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup quick cooking or rolled oats
1/4 tsp salt
fleur de sal for sprinkling (or other coarse salt like sea salt)

DIRECTIONS
1. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Using a hand mixer, blend the peanut butters, sugars, salt and baking soda together in a bowl until smooth and sugar is completely incorporated.
3. Blend in egg whites until fully combined.
4. Stir in choco chips and oats with a wooden spoon or spatula.
5. Refrigerate for freeze dough if desired for 1-2 hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Or unless you didn't wait, go ahead and scoop your cookie batter out by tablespoonfuls and drop them on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle them on top with fleur de sal or sea salt.
7. Bake 8-15 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown around edges.
8. Stuff into face and enjoy with a big glass o' milk.