Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a repost of something I wrote on tumblr last year, but I love this recipe and had to reshare on my new blog.


Ever have a craving for COOKIES?!  Yeah, me too.  But the problem with low carb cookie recipes is that they usually call for weird ingredients that are either hard to find, super expensive, or leave you wondering if they’re actually good for you.

These cookies have exactly four ingredients, and I bet you have them all in your cupboard right now!
 
Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies
16 oz (2 cups) smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5-10 packets stevia (or to taste)* OR
1-2 cups granual Splenda or other sweetener that measures cup-for-cup with sugar*

Preheat the oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients well.  It will be really runny at first, but keep mixing and it will form a dough!  Now, if you’re not weirded out by the thought of eating raw eggs, you should taste the dough.  Is it sweet enough?  It should be slightly sweeter than you would actually want the cookies, because it goes though some changes in the oven that make them taste a little less sweet.



Roll the cookies into 1 inch balls or so, place onto ungreased sheet, and then press with a fork to flatten.  You should get about 32-36 cookies.



Place in the oven for 12-14 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden around the bottom edge.  Remove from the oven and LET COOL FOR 10 MINUTES.  The cookies are very soft until cooled and shouldn’t be handled.  After cooled, they’re still pretty crumbly, but they’re so freakin’ good!

*The reason I give such a wide variation on how much sweetener to use is because everyone on the low-carb diet has different sweetness thresholds.  Try it with the lower amount first, and if that doesn't taste right to you, add more!  Remember that it should be sweeter than you want it when it's raw, because they get less sweet after baking. 

Nutrition facts fore one cookie:

If you make 32 cookies total:
Calories: 100; Fat: 8.5g; Protein: 4.5g; Carbs: 3.1g; Fiber: 1g; Net Carbs: 2.1g

If you make 36 cookies total:
Calories: 89; Fat: 7.6g; Protein: 4g; Carbs: 2.8g; Fiber: .9g; Net Carbs: 1.9g

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I did a little experimenting tonight on these.  As I was whipping up the delicious cookies, hubby said, “If you could make ganache with dark chocolate and cream…” and suddenly images of low carb chocolate covered peanut butter cookies filled my head.  So I sent him to the store while I baked (i.e. sat on the couch waiting for the cookies to finish).  When he got home, I tried making ganache from memory.  Unfortunately, my memory sucks, and I ended up separating the chocolate, and not being able to get it emulsified again.
So instead of throwing away delicious Lindt 85% dark chocolate, I just kind of plopped the separated mess onto the cookies and stuck them in the freezer.  Several minutes later, we pulled them out, and OMG SO GOOD.  They’re very intense, and we could only eat one even though they’re small, but it was so amazingly satisfying.  I’m certainly going to try this again on a day when I’m more competent!



Update 5/26/13: I have indeed tried these with a proper ganache, and they are excellent.  Keep them in the fridge though or they'll be a sticky mess pretty quickly. 

18 comments:

  1. Hi Julie - I totally agree with the comments you made on the post I can't see now about Paleo foods! Having some l;ow carb bread or whatever makes this lifestyle so much easier and I also get that if I was a vegetarian, I would want "meat" like foods too. I get tired of the judgements people put on different ways of eating because each of us is different and if it takes a little paleo bread to help someone eat better then so be it!!

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  2. @Lynda: sorry about the confusion! I accidentally posted the wrong post this morning, lol. The paleo one will show up again in a couple of days. :)

    But thanks for the comment! I'm glad I'm not the only one who believes people should be applauded for the positive changes they're making, instead of being judged for the missteps they make.

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  3. This kind of reminds me of the wannabe-paleo bread recipe I make, almost the same ingredients. This sounds a lot better, tho XD

    I'll have to try it sometime.

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  4. @Cyborcat: Oh, I'd love your recipe for paleo bread :D

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  5. Sure, here ya go!
    http://www.1upyourlife.com/2013/05/paleo-bread

    I got it from the Fat Head blog, so you may have seen something almost like it on there, but I tried to be extra informative to make up for it. If you decide to make it, lemme know how it turns out ^.^

    --Dena/Cyborcat

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  6. BTW, I made these last weekend, ganache and all. The good news is that my husband loves them ... the bad news is that my husband loves them =P

    They're awesome, tho--thanks for sharing the recipe. Probably going to make them again this weekend.

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  7. Julie, I'm super impressed with your wealth of knowledge. I am a health coach and enjoy seeing people who are so committed to healthy living. I sent the recipe to nutrition support and they gave it the thumbs up! I'll be able to share it with my clients!! Julie, have you ever thought about being a health coach? You've got a fantastic following. You have a wealth of information --and coaching would teach you so much more. I'd LOVE to share that opportunity with you! --the paychecks are fantastic! AND you'd be helping and reaching a lot more people. My co-branded website is: janaelee.tsfl.com You're welcome to give me a call and I can tell you a little more about it. Our program was founded by doctors who want to help America get healthy! I've lost 35lbs with the program and feel so good! Enjoy your day!! Thanks again for sharing!!!

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  8. Hello. I was so excited to try these and then womp womp, they were so dry. I used jif whips with one batch, jif pumpkin whips with another batch and added cocoa powder and 4 tbs butter with the last batch. The first batch were the driest...crumbly in fact. The second batch was more flavorful with the pumpkin whip plus I added a pinch of cinnamon. And the third batch was the winner and by winner I mean the best out of the 3 but by no means moist. What could have gone wrong? Do you think I should just use plain ol' creamy peanut butter next time? Your suggestions would be appreciated as I loved this simple, easy to make recipe. Thanks!

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    1. Erg! I totally just lost the comment I wrote. Don't you hate when that happens? I'll try to rewrite it.

      Ahem... Thanks for the comment, Maria! It's always interesting to see what people do with my recipes. To be honest, I've never even tried the Jif whips, let alone tried them in my cookies. The recipe as I posted it was meant only for creamy peanut butter.

      That being said, I will admit that these cookies aren't exactly moist and chewy. They're more crumbly. They remind me most of a shortbread cookie; kind of crumbly and yes a bit dry, but not hard and crispy, and they melt in your mouth.

      If you wanted to try to make these more of a chewy moist cookie, you could try adding a couple tablespoons of cream (or milk, but I like cream) and enough ground almond flour to make it a firm, moldable dough (I'm guessing about 1/4 cup). But to be honest, I'm not sure if you could turn this recipe into a moist and chewy cookie without using wheat flour and white sugar. Give it a try though! I'd be really interested in seeing what you can come up with!

      OH! Wait! I just remembered something. My mom makes these cookies all the time, and somehow she does manage to make them moist, though not chewy. They're still crumbly, but certainly moist. What she does is she doesn't mash them down completely flat, kind of keeps them still rounded, and then she doesn't bake them as long. Maybe a minute or two less.

      So I would certainly suggest you try the original recipe before you start playing around with it :) That way you can decide if you want to either try what my mom does, or add some almond flour and cream. Let me know!

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  9. I've been doing hard keto for about 2 weeks, and I've NEVER craved a cookie this bad in my entire life, and that includes 2 pregnancies. That being said. I saw this recipe dropped everything I was doing, and stopped right then to make it. It smells amazing, and I really don't wanna wait the 10 min for them to cool. I just pulled them from the oven and had to leave the room so as to not be tempted to sneak a bite!

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    1. Could I share this recipe (with proper credit) on my own healthy lifestyles blog?

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    2. Of course! I really hope you enjoyed them; they're a real life saver when you have super cravings but don't want to make a fancy almond or coconut cookie recipe (or just don't have the ingredients on hand, which is common for me). Thanks for the comment!

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  10. Sorry to bother but how did you make the chocolate?

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    1. Sorry my reply took so long :) The chocolate was just a basic ganache. I like Martha Stewart's method the best: Heat 4 oz cream (1/2 cup) in a small pan or in the microwave until simmering. Pour over 4 oz chocolate chips (about 2/3 cup), and let set for 10 minutes (no cheating here). Gently stir to mix. If you don't let it set long enough or stir too vigorously, you'll break the chocolate and get a greasy, clumpy mess. It'll still be delicious though.

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  11. This recipe is great and I was skeptical it wasn't gonna firm up since there's no flour but wow am I surprised. It's the same consistency as cookie dough!

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  12. We just made this recipe (Adding 1/4 cup almond flour) and it tastes pretty dang good. My wife is the one on the diet and she even said it was just right on sweetness with 10 packets of fake sugar added. They do seem a bit dry, how ever some drink near by can fix that. Over all still a very good start to a low carb sweet.

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  13. I wonder if you could use a natural peanut butter? I buy nothing but Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter because it's only ingredients are peanuts and salt. There is no garbage in it like palm oil, sugar or other additives.

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  14. Getting back into those pre-pregnancy jeans is always a problem. So...is there a program that actually works, with NO Gimmicks or Catches, or Huge payments for goods that you don't need. diabetes pizza

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