Going Flourless: Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

Who da thought?

A cookie with no flour and no butter?

And a  very GOOD cookie?  Impossible!

Not impossible — in fact the recipe is printed below!

Just how good are these cookies?  They were so good I forgot to take a picture of them.  They were beautiful.  (Sure, Terri…)  Really they were.

All I have is a photo (see below) of how happy you’ll probably be when you eat them.  Sorry, it’s the best I can do for an illustration!

At my house, these crunchy-yet-soft-and-smelling- like- heaven delicacies disappeared so fast that the thought of taking a photo truly never entered my mind.  Let’s say I was too busy tasting and marveling about the flavor and texture….And, NO!  I did not eat them all.  That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

My family, who is pretty traditional when it comes to favorite cookie recipes, LOVED THESE.  A big hit all around.

And six ingredients.  What could be simpler?

Flourless Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup super chunky peanut butter (the chunkier, the better)
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (about 6 ounces). Use your favorite kind — mine were organic square chocolate chips from a health food store, not too sweet.  Delicious.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl and then mix in chocolate chips. Form dough into balls using 1 tablespoon (generous) of dough or more for each cookie. 2 T. works fine, but avoid the temptation to make really large cookies. You’ll see why.  Read on.

Arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.

Watch the cookies carefully — do not over bake. This is a key to this recipe. Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 10 to12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. This is important — you can’t take them off the sheet at first. They just fall apart. Wait patiently, it’s worth it. Then transfer to racks and cool completely.

Store in airtight container at room temperature. Totally fabulous the next day as well.

Go on, have a few. These beauties will make you young again, for sure!  Right — youth and happily ever after in a darn cookie.  Works for me.

Adapted from a recipe from my very favorite online recipe box — www.epicurious.com.  Enjoy!  Please pass the plate…