Peanut Butter Cookies

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Carmen

I love peanut butter cookies! They are so tender and moist and they melt in your mouth. They are definitely one of my favorite cookies but I hadn’t made them for a while as I hadn’t figured out how to adjust the recipe without sugar in them.

My mother, bless her, since we have chosen to go sugar free, has been experimenting in her kitchen so that she could make treats for the kids when we come to visit. She has adjusted many of our favorite recipes so that we can still enjoy them. She was the one who figured out how to successfully make peanut butter cookies with no sugar. In her first attempt she substituted date sugar, which she found did not work so well as the cookies were dry ad crumbly. Her next attempt proved successful as she uses a combination of coconut sugar and agave nectar, which make a sweet, soft cookie, that literally does melt in your mouth. Luke and Chloe love her peanut butter cookies!

I had been craving them myself for a while so I whipped up a batch last night using my mother’s recipe. I was literally drooling over the batter, my mouth watering as I mixed it up (cause the next best thing to freshly baked peanut butter cookie is peanut butter cookie dough!)

I did resist eating all the dough and baked 5 dozen cookies. Some plain and some with sugar free jam, I make my own, in the middle (I love those best, they are even more soft and moist, peach jam is my favorite).

Matthew even came down after going to sleep as he smelled the cookies baking, the sweet smells wafting up the stairs. (I get an image like in one of those cartoons with the person asleep being ‘carried’ down the stairs along the wafting smell to the kitchen). This morning the twins saw them (even though I thought I had cleverly tucked them out of sight) and wanted some right away. It did not go so well when I said no that we would have some later.

As soon as Luke and Chloe were up from their naps they were asking for cookies. And when Matthew came in the door afterschool and saw a pear on the counter wondered aloud why he wasn’t getting any cookies. (The deal was to eat our pear and then have cookies). We dove in. Ok we had 2 each, though I could have easily eaten 5 or 6, and I am sure the kids would have too. In fact Chloe came bouncing into the kitchen looking for more and when I told her that was it and that she had 2 already she said, “No I didn’t” with the most innocent look on her face. I laughed out loud! How early they start with those things 🙂

Chloe enjoying her cookie

I am sure over the next few days there will be many requests for cookies and I am sure I will indulge as well. In fact I am resisting right now going over to the container and popping 1 or 2 into my mouth… The nice thing is is they do not contain sugar so the kids will not get the adrenaline spike related to it and it is something sweet for them to enjoy. They will also eventually run out, but I can always make more! and might do so 🙂

Peanut Butter Cookies

1c. Earth Balance Vegan Spread

1 c. coconut sugar

1/2 c. agave nectar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 c. unsweetened peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

Cream Earth Balance. Add coconut sugar, agave nectar and eggs. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and baking soda until well mixed and mixture is light and fluffy.

Scoop by the teaspoon and roll into a ball. Place ball on cookie sheet. With a fork press down once gently – dip fork in water so fork does not stick to dough.

Variation: may add a small amount of jam (any flavor you like) in middle of cookie. To do this form ball as above, with finger and press down in the middle of ball. Add small amount of jam in impression. We use sugar free jam that is sweetened with honey.

Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 5 dozen cookies.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Carmen

Over the past couple of weeks I have started to get ready for Christmas, decorating the house, baking, and creating Christmas lists. It is a great time of year as I start right after Halloween, breaking out the Christmas music and Christmas movies and start transforming the house.

I clean as I go, so the house gets a thorough clean, even if it is only once a year (ha ha! -seriously I do clean a little more often). But often this is the time when I get into some of those nooks and crannies that get missed in the regular cleaning. It gives the house such a nice fresh, warm, cozy feeling.

Gingerbread House

I always wonder why the house feels so nice around Christmas time, all decorated and warm, I can just sit there for hours and gaze at the lights or watch the fire. I don’t know if its the anticipation of the coming holiday and events, or if it is simply a cleaner, less cluttered house (as I put away a lot of the extra things that are around); or simply the feeling of love and acceptance that permeates the world at this time of year. I often wonder, as I am sure many of us do, why cannot we not experience this feeling throughout the whole year?

One of the things that is the most fun about Christmas is watching the kids reactions to things, especially the little ones. This year Luke and Chloe being almost 3, are very aware of what’s going on and are constantly expressing their excitement and delight in what’s going on. So each day when I put up something new, Luke and Chloe are there oohing and awing. Because for them it is like they are experiencing it for the first time. Even though they have had 2 Christmases already they don’t really remember or get what it was about.

And it makes it so fun for me to introduce something new and make it special. When I put up the garland in the living room, I made sure the lights were plugged in the next morning so that they could see it when they came downstairs. “Oh Mommy look lights!” they run to tell me in delight; and then we had to leave the lights on all day.

When I put up the snowman shower curtain in the bathroom they started jumping up and down and clapping “Oh look snowman! Penguins!” Then they wanted to touch it and look at it and hang out in the bathroom for awhile.

Snowman & Penguin Shower Curtain

Chloe helped me one day take out some of the Christmas Party Lite candle holders I had. Her eyes lit up each time I brought out a new box and she delicately helped me open and unwrap them. She put snowflakes in the bathroom, and thoroughly examined the gingerbread house.

Both Luke and Chloe love the outdoor lights on everyone’s houses, especially the snowman across the street, that Luke diligently goes and checks on after supper each night. They love the nutcracker on top of the tv and talk about Santa Claus every day, not because he brings them presents but because they know and recognize him, but that he is a part of Christmas. Even when we are shopping in the store, Chloe is oohing and awing and pointing out the Christmas decorations.

It is going to be a wonderful Christmas this year as I continue to watch Luke and Chloe discover it. Everything is new, everything is exciting, a wonder and delight to look at and discover. Matthew enjoys and gets excited for Christmas as well but now that he is older it is for different reasons and some of the wonder and delight he experienced as a young child is not as present as it used to be. It makes me a little bit sad to realize this, not only for him, but for us adults as well. Why not experience the pure joy and delight of the season not only this year, but every year. What if we were to approach it as if it was our first Christmas, something to delight in and discover, share the joy and excitement? Imagine what Christmas would be like for all of us, experiencing the joy of a Christmas decoration, seeing things through the eyes of a child. What a magical, wonderful season it would be for us all, each and every year. If we allow ourselves to enjoy the little things, the joy in the lights and decorations, regardless of the amount of presents under the tree, our hearts will be full and the magic of the season will truly be upon us.

Party Lite Snowflake Candle Holders

And why not apply this throughout the entire year? Find the joy and excitement in everything in our lives, big and small, especially small, because sometimes even the smallest things bring us the greatest joy. Many of us say that it would be nice if the feeling of Christmas lasted all year, well it can, we just need to be grateful and appreciate what we see and do each day. Because there is love and beauty in everything and if we approach each day like a 3 year old with the attitude of what delights am I going to discover today, jump up and down and clap our hands, ooh and awe, what a delightful existence and world we will have!

So this Christmas (and after that as well) as you prepare for the season, decorating and doing all the things you usually do, pretend you are like a young child experiencing it for the first time, seeing life through their eyes, where every day is a discovery, an adventure, a wonderment of looking around the corner to find out what’s new. You’ll discover very quickly what a wonderful space this is to be in and it will become easier and easier to do so. Like anything it may take practice as some of us adults can be pretty stubborn and set in our ways, but the results of this shift will make such a difference in our life and the world. How can you resist such a wonderful and easy solution? If we live from our hearts with love we can never go wrong, just like a child, watch the world of wonder unfold around us.

Mmmmm… Chocolate Brownies (and oh yes sugar free)

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Carmen

Usually at this time of year I start preparing for Christmas, decorating and transforming the house into that cozy little sanctuary that is filled with love and laughter, children screaming in delight, sharing meals and good conversation with friends and family.

It is also the time of year that we are bombarded with sweets and treats and many of us tend to overindulge (a little) because there are so many good things to choose from. I usually start baking about now too, getting the treats ready and putting them in the freezer ready to take out when I need them, when company arrives or if I’d like a little treat myself:)

The challenge over the last year has been making some of my favorite recipes, which are full of sugar, and finding the appropriate sugar substitutions still getting the same taste and result. One of the absolute favorites in our house has been Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal squares, which after a year of figuring out how to adjust it, I perfected the recipe. It was quite challenging as there were a lot of required ingredients that I had to find sugar free replacements for, such as cereal. The recipe calls for both cornflakes and rice crispies which are sweetened with added sugar. But more on that recipe next week when I post it. (Yes I am going to make you wait for that one)

Today I am going to share with you a delicious and very easy brownie recipe. It is a recipe from my Grandma that I used to make all the time, but hadn’t yet figured out what the appropriate substitution for brown sugar was. I had tried date sugar, and though sweet enough does not melt, so does not work in a lot of recipes where you require the sugar to actually melt. My mother was the one who actually found and tried coconut sugar and said it was a great substitution for brown sugar.

I had heard of coconut sugar but for whatever reason had not picked it up and tried it myself. In the summer when my parents took Matthew camping, my Mom was on a mission to adapt a good old camping recipe that we make on the coals of the fire, called a Cinnamon Apple. Delicious, it’s a baked apple with raisins and cinnamon and the brown sugar creates this wonderful sweet syrupy delight. Mmmmm. Anyway, she had found the coconut sugar and tried it in the Cinnamon Apple and it turned out perfectly; because the coconut sugar was not only sweet enough, it melts just like brown sugar. In fact, when you look on the package of coconut sugar, it says right on the package that you can substitute it for brown sugar.

So I started using coconut sugar in more of my recipes and all the ones that I had been ‘waiting on’ a brown sugar substitute. My first trial was with the chocolate brownies. Not only did they turn out, I found them to be more delicious, lighter and fluffier than the original recipe. In fact they are so good that you don’t really need to put icing on top of them, they are delicious all by themselves.

If you would like to put icing on them I am including an easy chocolate icing recipe that will do the trick. So make, enjoy, eat and freeze (so that you don’t eat them all! though that does not always stop me as I Know they are in the freezer).

Chocolate Brownies

1 c. coconut sugar