We Need Cookies

When we decided to make our home gluten-free, it was natural to think of all the things that we “couldn’t” have anymore. Baking was my first hobby in the kitchen, and saying goodbye to my all-purpose, white wheat, and bread flours meant no more stovetop flatbreads in my grandmother’s cast iron skillet, no more muffins, popovers, or dutch babies on Sunday morning, and certainly no more cookies and cakes. At least not in the way I was accustomed to making them.

But dividing foods into “can have” and “can’t have” categories helps no one. We wanted to be positive about this change, so I sat down and made a list of all the desserts I knew I could bake with little or no changes to the recipe to make them gluten-free. Hello, frozen yogurt! Nice to see you, pudding. Welcome to the rotation, poached fruits. Making this list was exciting. It reminded me that there’s a whole world of recipes out there that are naturally gluten-free, I just have to look beyond my usual repertoire. And as I was writing, I remembered the flourless peanut butter cookies.

These cookies are like little bites of baked peanut butter yumminess. The recipe is naturally gluten-free, and the protein quotient of the peanut butter helps me justify a second cookie if the urge strikes. This is a Martha Stewart recipe, and I think the main changes I made are to use natural peanut butter (Trader Joe’s creamy unsalted is our fav) and stir in a healthy dose of chocolate chips. Everyone needs a cookie recipe that can be pulled together on short notice, and my first batch of these in our post-gluten world put me back in my comfort zone. There will be cookies made with gluten-free flours, but for the moment, for the beginning, these peanut butter cookies are what we need right now.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 C. creamy, unsalted peanut butter

3/4 C. lightly packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 C. chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl, beat together all your ingredients until smooth, folding the chocolate chips in at the end.
3. Scoop small, rounded spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, flattening slightly with the back of the spoon.
4. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until cookies are slightly browned at the edges. They will still feel soft, but the firm up out of the oven, so don’t over-bake!
5. Cool cookies on the sheet for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Written by Abby