I've been extremely busy this past month cooking and baking for everyone else (sometimes myself) and I haven't posted as much as I wanted to. I figured I should spend my down time to reflect on everything before the New Year approaches. This year has flown by for me, the up's and down's and everything in between have all happened in a bit of a blur. Whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen, I guess. I'd like to think time passing quickly is a sign of productivity. Many things have happened in the past year that I'm quite proud of. One of which led me to creating a satisfying sugar-free cookie that no one has turned down. I often say that my baking recipes are "sugar-free", but they will still contain sugars in the form of natural, minimally processed sweeteners (maple syrup, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, dates...). These peanut butter cookies are the closest things to "sugar-free" that I've ever made successfully. I don't mind baking with stevia sometimes, but I've never used it or any other sugar-free sweetener for a large batch of something for other people. This year, I mustered up the courage to try a different type of natural sweetener that I've had my eye on for a while now: monkfruit. I received some sample products from Natvia Sweeteners to try not too long ago. I was immediately excited because I've always wanted to try sugar-free baking and never delved too deeply into it to see successful results. I have a bit more experience baking with stevia, so I'm saving that for a later dexay... However, I've always admired monkfruit extract from afar but never actually used it. I wasn't sure what brands to buy or how much to use...so, I procrastinated. Once I received the Norbu samples, I knew my time had come! I used an old recipe from my favorite Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (where I get most of my recipes for baking) for the cookies. I veganized and de-glutenized the recipe, as per usual, but I also swapped out the entire 1 (!) cup of sugar/brown sugar that they called for and replaced it with a combination of coconut sugar and Norbu monkfruit sweetener. This proved to be a winning combination of flavor and mellow sweetness for this cookie recipe. Peanut butter cookies are usually rich in flavor and slightly salty (I use salted peanut butter because I love it; this is definitely not needed, though if you are watching your salt). I never could appreciate a peanut butter cookie that was too sweet. To me, peanut butter is something I want to actually taste if I'm baking with it. Too much sugar can ruin the earthy quality of the peanuts and also create a dry mouth, which is never pleasant! So, I scaled back on the sugar for this recipe, added in some applesauce for softness, and recreated a family Christmas favorite for all to enjoy! (I hope you will too!) Sugar-Free Peanut Butter CookiesAdapted from Better Homes and Gardens
Yield: approx. 30 cookies Ingredients
Instructions Oven 375 F.
Happy Holidays and Happy Baking, everyone! Please check back soon for more festive recipes! Comments are closed.
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I'm Jess!This is my very first food blog! I post revised conventional recipes of foods that I hold near and dear to my heart. My cooking here is all gluten-free and cruelty-free, but full of flavor and comfort. Archives
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