Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies

My aunt gave me this chocolate chip cookie peanut butter oat recipe a while ago and it's by far my favorite cookie.  They taste the best on a road trip.  Don't know why that is, but now I have to make them for every road trip we take.  Guess what? We have a road trip coming up!  Over the years, I have tried making these cookies to suit those with certain diet restrictions.  I originally made them gluten free and they were just as delicious! And for some reason, you feel like you can eat more because they are gluten free.  This time, I made them gluten and refined sugar free.  Guess what? They turned out great! They are a little less sweet than the original recipe (you're taking out a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown sugar and replacing it with 1/2 cup honey), but they are soooo good! Great for road trips because they aren't completely terrible for you and they are pretty filling.  I'm so excited for our road trip just so I can eat more of these cookies! 

P.S. I totally wasn't planning on using this photo, but it's the only one I had... as you can tell, my silicon baking mat is loved. 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies
Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter   
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1/2 cup raw honey

1 cup organic creamy peanut butter (make sure there is no added sugar)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups oat flour (I just grind up gluten free oats in a blender until powdery)

1 cup gluten free oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups homemade refined sugar free chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 

In another large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until everything comes together. 

Blob by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet and flatten.  Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet.  Move to a cooling rack to harden. (may take longer to harden because of the honey) Enjoy!

Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chip cookies need to be a staple in every child's diet regardless of food allergies or sensitivities.  My mission... to create a chocolate chip cookie using only natural/healthy sweeteners, no refined sugars.  In the past, I'd just take a cookie recipe and search the grocery store for chocolate chips with no refined sugars.  Being that I normally do my grocery shopping with a 5 month old... reading every label in the store was not an option.  Plus, I had no luck with the research that I did do... so I decided to make my own using limited natural ingredients with no preservatives.  

These chocolate chips are absolutely delicious.  I swear I chowed down on at least a half cup while making them.  Super addicting, but make sure to save some for the cookies!

Chocolate Chips

Makes: 2 cups (depending on how much chocolate you eat while cooling)

Ingredients:

4 oz organic unsweetened baking chocolate (if you don't have organic in your store, the regular is fine)

1/4 cup raw honey (this will make similar to a semi-sweet chocolate... add more to make sweeter)

3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions:

Break the chocolate into smaller 1/2 oz pieces.  In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  Add honey, coconut oil, sea salt and vanilla and stir until smooth.  

Let sit out in a cool place for a few hours until hardened, somewhat like the consistency of peanut butter.  To speed the process, move to fridge, but don't forget it or it'll get hard and you'll have to start over melting it.  

Meanwhile, cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  Stick in freezer for 15 minutes. (or hours if you forget it)

When the chocolate is the right consistency, spoon into a piping bag with a larger round tip or a zip lock bag.  If using a zip lock bag, snip the corner of the bag to make a nice tip to pipe the chocolate out of.  Pipe small chocolate chips onto the frozen baking sheet.  When finished, place baking sheet in freezer for another hour to completely harden the chocolate chips.  

Scrape the chocolate chips off the pan with a spatula into a storage container and store in the freezer until ready to use.  

These are very soft chocolate chips so if using in a cookie recipe, make sure you add them right at the end with minimal stirring so they don't melt in the dough or just add them to the top of a cookie at the end of baking.  When I made my cookies, I added them right at the end and stirred only to combine and they were fine.  Store in freezer.

French Bread

I have been making my own bread now for about 3+ years, but have been so intimidated to venture outside of the loaf... until today.  This French Bread is so delicious and quite easy!  I made it with a non-napping four month old around to help.  When it came out of the oven, I admit, I had three slices.   It was so good and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  This will be so good to make sub sandwiches out of and garlic toast and I can think of a million more things.  I'm so excited I found this recipe!  Enjoy

French Bread

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water

Directions:

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 1.5 cups flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in additional flour until a sticky dough forms.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  

Place in an oiled bowl, covered with a wet dish cloth, in a warm spot fro 45 minutes to an hour until it doubles in size. 

Punch down dough and roll out into a rectangle.  Roll up the short ways and place seam side down on a cookie sheet.  Let rise in a warm spot again for 45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use a sharp knife to make 4 diagonal slices on the top of the loaf.  Place loaf in oven for 15-20 minutes, until nice and browned on the top.  Cool on wire rack. 

Delicious and Easy Graham Crackers

I was in the baking mood today, but wanted to make something with the limited ingredients I had on hand ... rewind ... I was craving something sweet today and didn't have chocolate chips on hand... so I decided to make these graham crackers since I've been in a graham crakery mood lately, since there is no chocolate around. 

Anyway, these were so delicious and made from normal pantry ingredients. No eggs, no butter, no refined sugar! I just happened to have a stash of coconut sugar in my pantry, but you could totally use brown or white sugar in these and it would taste just as good.  I like the coconut sugar because it has a nice, kind of, molassey flavor. (I keep ending everything in Y and spell check is getting mad at me).  You could absolutely sub butter for the coconut oil, but coconut oil is healthier... so if you're going for the health factor than coconut oil it is.  Also, to make gluten free, you could easily sub a gluten free all purpose flour.  Enjoy! These were so delicious!

Graham Crackers
Makes: 8 large crackers (depending on the thickness you make them)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose organic flour (may sub whole wheat or gluten free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 Tablespoons warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until the mixture begins to clump together. Fold the dough with hands until all is evenly combined and forms a ball. Sprinkle some flour on a flat table surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough down to the thickness of a typical graham cracker. Cut into rectangles and place on a baking sheet. You can use a skewer, chopstick or fork to poke holes so it resembles a store bought graham cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until crispy.  This may vary depending on the thickness of the cracker.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown too much. 

adapted from organic authority