oatmeal peanut butter cookies, sans-gluten

'Tis the season to get warmed up by the fireplace and indulge in a level of goodness only basics can understand.

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Sometimes we get these things called hankerings. Hank-er-ings. It puts us into a state of mind where if we do not seek that particular food or product, one may feel as though they're missing out in life.
Today I had a hankering for peanut butter cookies.
Growing up, my Mormor (mother's mother in Danish) made the best peanut butter cookies. I'm talking next level, melt in your mouth peanut butter cookies that would make you go from saying oh, I'll just have a bite to eating half the batch, simply because they are that good.
Unfortunately for me, I can't have those bad boys anymore due to my recent discovery of being gluten-sensitive (thank you to my doctor for giving me the OK to say goodbye to gluten).
​So with that said, I whipped these ones up this afternoon because my hankering was just killin' me. 

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WHAT YOU WILL NEED
3/4 cup coconut flour 
3/4 cup gluten-free oats
1/3 cup coconut sugar 
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tbsp soy-free earth balance, softened
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter 
2 tbsp unsweetened coconut, shredded
1/3 cup almond milk
2 tbsp honey 
8 squares of 85% cacao chocolate (I prefer Camino) - optional, but you know me I like to find ways to put chocolate in everything

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WHAT YOU NEED TO DO WITH THE ABOVE

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the coconut flour, oats, coconut sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and sea salt and set aside
3. In your stand mixer bowl, beat together the eggs and earth balance. Add in the peanut butter, coconut, almond milk and honey.
4. A little at a time with your mixer on low, add in your dry mix. Once you've put it all in the stand mixer bowl whip it up for about 30 seconds.
5. On a large baking sheet, make sure you take a bit of earth balance and smear it all over the sheet so your precious cookies don't become a part of it for the rest of your life.
6. drop the 1" cookies onto the sheet and gently press down so they're sort of flat-ish
7. a) Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, OPTION to place a small square of camino dark chocolate in the middle of the cookies (one square cut in half) and continue baking for another 4 minutes or until the edges start to show their golden goods. If you're not as much of a chocolate freak such as myself, skip this step. 
   b) If you're saying no to chocolate, bake the cookies for a total of 10 minutes or until golden.
8. Let cool completely and share with everyone!

I love the fact that these cookies don't taste like they are loaded in sugar. Being conscious about what you are putting into your body is one of the key factors to maintaining a healthy physique, whatever that may mean to you. So does it fit your macronutrients?

PER COOKIE, WITH CHOCOLATE
136 calories, 14g carbohydrates (5.6g sugar, 3g fiber), 6.6g fat, 4g protein
PER COOKIE, WITHOUT CHOCOLATE
126 calories, 13g carbohydrates (4.9g sugar, 3g fiber), 6.2g fat, 3.6g protein

Get that yummy-ness in your system! Happy Sunday.

<3