Peanut Butter Cookies (with coconut flour)

Coconut flour?

I set out to make these cookies in an attempt to experiment with coconut flour – the first thing I noticed is that coconut flour recipes generally call for what appears to be a very small amount of flour in comparison to traditional flour or even almond flour – this is because coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid and will double in size once mixed with the wet ingredients. So fear not- the meager amount of coconut flour will go a long way (which is great as coconut flour also costs a bit more than regular flour!)

A hard lesson in the science of baking…

These cookies also taught me a lesson in the role of baking soda in baking, and how and why it is different than baking powder. At the most basic level, both of these ingredients are used to make your food rise/fluffy/soft – but they are very different in how they achieve this.

Going back to science class, baking soda is a base- it needs to be mixed with an acid in order to react and release the bubbles that will allow your creations to rise. But baking soda is very strong, and more baking soda does not mean more rise- it is instead critical that the amount of soda is proportional to the amount of acid that is available for it to react with; otherwise, the left over soda will create a weird salty/bitter/metallic taste in your end result. While baking soda CAN leaven a baked good when exposed to heat, unless it is neutralized with an acid, your finished baked good might rise but still taste funny.

How did I learn this? When I first made these cookies I used white sugar and no honey- which means that there was NO acidic ingredients to react with the baking soda; so I got airy beautiful cookies that tasted awful. So please do not leave out the honey in this recipe! And if you scale up the recipe, maintain the proportion of baking soda to honey. Examples of acidic ingredients that react with baking soda include: buttermilk, brown sugar, yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, cream of tartar, molasses, applesauce, natural cocoa powder (not dutch process), or honey.

If a recipe calls for only baking powder it is okay if there are no acidic ingredients in a recipe. This is because baking powder is effectively baking soda already mixed with dry cream of tartar (an alkaline (basic) ingredient) That is not to say you cannot have acidic ingredients with baking powder, but you MUST have acidic ingredients if you are using baking soda- confused yet? Baking powder is a good tool to use to increase the leavening of a recipe that uses baking soda if you want more lift without adding increasing the acidic ingredient.

That all being said, this recipe makes a great, chewy delicious cookie for the peanut butter lover- just don’t leave out the honey! (I am pretty sure that baking these cookies is torture for our dog because the whole house smells of peanut butter!)

Peanut Butter Cookies (with coconut flour)

Difficulty: Easy

Servings

12

cookies

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

For 1 batch of these I mix by hand, but for a larger batch a stand mixer with paddle attachment would work.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if butter or peanut butter has salt)

• 1 tablespoon non-dairy butter (or other butter) melted and cooled

• 1 egg

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter (unsalted, unsweetened, no palm oil et )

• chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

• In a medium bowl sift together dry ingredients: 2 tbsp coconut flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
• In another bowl: Beat together 1 egg with 1 tbsp cooled melted butter; Mix in 1 tbsp honey and 1 tsp vanilla, add 3 tbps granulated white sugar and 3 tbps brown sugar and beat until creamy
  
  Do not leave out the honey in this recipe- and if you scale up the recipe, maintain the proportion of baking soda to honey.
  
  Highly recommend fleishmans margarine or other stick butter vs smart balance or spread- they will work but you will have flatter less puffy cookies. See post on dairy free butter for more details here.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated
• Mix in 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, mix until smooth
  
  Natural, unsweetened, unsalted is KEY; natural peanut butter, no salt, no palm oil etc is KEY- funny after taste with Skippy!
• Place batter in freezer for 30 minutes
  
  You can also make this batter the day before and place in the refrigerator overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Use a tablespoon to scoop the batter, roll into even sized balls, and place on baking tray flattening slightly
• (Optional) Slightly press a few chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies
  
  You can probably also fold the chips into the batter; but I have not tried it this way.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges start to brown.
  They will deflate a little and be soft and chewy- mine needed a little spatula assistance to loosen from the cookie sheet