Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Tried and true, hands down, this is Gavin's favorite cookie at the castle house. And what's even better is that Gavin, almost 9-years-old now, with only a bit of guided practice, is able to make them himself.  These healthy snacks come together quickly and with only a handful of ingredients, I almost always have everything in the pantry.  The only ingredient that you might want to give a little forethought to are the bananas.  You will need RIPE ones!  This is key and is the only sweetener in the cookie dough.

There have been times when I craved these treats for my breakfast and I will make up a half batch and eat them all with a cup of hot tea.  Yummers!

Easy peasy, let's get cookin'!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl add and mix together:

2 ripe bananas (mash real good)

*1 1/2 cups rolled oats

*1/2 cup quick oats

**1 heaping tablespoon peanut butter 

1 tsp. vanilla

Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet.  Dip your thumb into water and begin making a small depression into the top of each cookie (water helps prevent cookie dough from sticking to your skin).

Bake cookies in the oven for 12 minutes.  Remove tray from oven and let cookies cool for a few minutes.  Squeeze or drop scant amount of jelly onto each cookie.  

*You can use all rolled oats or all quick oats.  I like the texture of using some of both.  And you can play with the amount of oats since the consistency of the cookies will have a lot to do with the size of your bananas.  Larger bananas?  More oats.  Smaller bananas, less oats.  Or just one banana and cut back on the oats and peanut butter and just make a smaller batch of cookies.  This recipe is very forgiving and does not require exact measurements.  

**You can use almond butter in place of peanut butter.

Eat up!  Yummers!

Lunchbox Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe in "Forks Over Knives:  The Cookbook."  So glad I did.  My prior attempts at a healthier cookie always left me wanting.  The secret ingredient in these beauties is almond butter and it makes all the difference in the taste!   Now my 'go to' cookie recipe and really hits the spot when I have a cookie craving.  A note of caution:  It's hard to eat just one.  So, I don't even try.  When the cookies are baking in the oven, I brew up a fresh cup of coffee or tea.  When my tea is steeped to perfection, the cookies are ready to come out of the oven and I serve up THREE of these taste treats and Enjoy every bite.  The rest I store in the freezer and remove a few at a time for that next cookie craving.

Makes 24 Cookies

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup almond butter

1/2 cup dry sweetener (I use Stevia)

1 T. ground flaxseeds

2 t. pure vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups rolled oats (I use closer to 1 1/2 cups since dough is very sticky)

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 cup sorghum flour or whole-wheat pastry flour (I use the latter)

1/2 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips (Easy to use less.  I can get away with using only 2 T. and prefer regular semi-sweet mini chocolate chips.)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat baking mats.

2. In a mixing bowl, use a strong fork or wooden spoon to beat together applesauce, almond butter, sweetener, and flaxseeds.  One relatively smooth, mix in the vanilla extract.

3.  Add in the oats, baking soda, and salt and mix well.  Add the sorghum flour and chocolate chips and mix well.

4.  Drop by small spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheet in about 1-1/2 T. scoops, about 2" apart.  Flatten the cookies a bit, so that they resemble thick discs (they won't spread much at all during baking.)  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  The longer you bake them, the crispier they will be.  

5.  Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Final Notes:  After making these cookies several times, I've found that my smallest melon scoop works very well for a uniform size cookie and makes closer to 30 cookies rather than the 24 the original recipe states.  Also, I squeeze all the cookies onto one large cookie sheet, leaving less space between each cookie, no problem. 

Enjoy!  And special thanks to Isa Chandra Moskowitz for her contributions to this cookbook!