Peanut Butter Goodness

Every once in a while we all get stuck on a flavor.  Something we already liked but all of a sudden can't get enough of...  Lately, thats been peanut butter in my case.

Being Lent, a lot of Armenians follow the traditional strict "vegan" diet and since the ARS is hosting the hokehankist (requiem services) this weekend at church, we had to make sure the coffee hour food was all vegan friendly.

Remember that peanut butter hankering I've been having? Well, I told my ARS cohorts that I was going to make peanut butter cookies! (Everything else was Armenian food, which I love, but remember, the hankering, plus who doesn't love peanut butter cookies?!) Now to find a recipe...

Well I found 2 recipes that I ended up trying out.

The first one was AWESOME. So good. Heavenly even. One problem... its crumbly as all heck... but HEAVEN!


Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies #1
(from ChooseVeg.com)
yields ~26 cookies

1 1/2 c flour
1 c peanut butter
1/4 c oil
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Roll dough into balls then flatten with the prongs of a fork making a criss cross pattern.  Or if you're like me and my maker family, use a scoop to make even sized cookies. I used a 6 size scoop if that means anything to you... 

I think the lack of egg is why it was so crumbly. Very similar to an Armenian cookie called ghorebeh (also no egg, but it does have butter).  Anyway, I decided (with the help of my SnB friends) that while the cookies were delish (I made two trays, one plain, regular cookies, the second I made into thumb print cookies with strawberry jam - Peanut butter & Jelly cookies! Brilliant right? How did I think of that?! No clue!



Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies #2

(from Katie's blog)

yields ~12 cookies

1/2 cup peanut butter (or another nut butter)

3/4 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp flour (whole-wheat pastry flour or a gf mix)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar (coconut sugar)

2 tbsp applesauce

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

optional: tiny pinch salt  (Taste dough to decide.)

Mix dry ingredients very well. Then add wet and form cookie balls, again, I used a scoop to make even sized cookies. I used a 6 size scoop again, perfect cookie size . If you want soft cookies, fridge the dough for at least an hour ( I didn't, they were perfect). Then bake in a preheated oven 350 degrees for 8 minutes. They’ll look underdone when you take them out, but that’s ok. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from tray.

Both cookies were delicious, but we decided the second cookie was better for a big event, not crumbly but yummy none-the-less!

I would recommend either or both recipes for anyone who's interested... Test them out, hey're both fairly small recipes, then tell me what you think!