Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (Low Carb/Low Fat)

Peanut Butter. I love peanut butter. 

Most of the healthier, more diabetic-friendly peanut butter cookies that I've tried have been brittle, a little bitter, or lacking good peanut-buttery flavor. 

But then I made these cookies and they are perfect.

One time when I made them, I baked them a little too long, and they were still soft and chewy. Another time I left them out on a plate without covering them, and was sure they were going to be hard, but they were still soft and chewy. I even made a big batch of these for my Diabetic brother for his birthday, and when he was trying to be a "good diabetic" with limiting himself only 2 each day, he still had some left a week later, and guess what? They were still soft and chewy.

In case you haven't gotten the message, these cookies are very soft and chewy, no matter what.

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies:
Makes 20 cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp natural sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients together until you have a sticky dough. Drop level cookie scoops onto a  baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (Don't press with a fork)
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely on the baking sheet. Halfway through the cooling process, press criss-crosses into the cookies with a fork if desired.
On a side note, the cookies will firm as they cool.

For 1 cookie: Calories 95, Total Fat 6g, Sodium 365mg, Carbohydrates 7g, Protein 3g

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies (Low Carb)

I have another cookie for you.

I tried a couple chocolate chip cookie recipes from different diabetic resources, and they weren't good enough to satisfy me. Too cake-like and not enough flavor.

 So I tried my own. And they were better, but not quite there. I tried again, and they were very good, but still not what I wanted. I tried a third time.

And it was good. EXTREMELY good.

 They are permanently soft. Seriously, you could leave these cookies out without covering them, and they don't get hard. It's a beautiful thing.

 I added pecans because I like the little bit of crunch they add. And there's a nice nutty taste in the cookies anyway, due to some almond meal and almond extract, so pecans compliment them extremely well. But of course if nuts in cookies aren't your thing, they're still amazing without. My husband prefers them without. He's not a real nut lover. But I MUCH prefer them in.

 I took a bite out of this one so you could see the texture of them. I did that just for you! Wasn't that nice of me? And then I ate the rest of it. Right after I took this last picture...

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies: (LOW CARB)
makes 20 cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
3 TBL Splenda brown sugar
1/4 cup All-Natural applesauce (no sugar added)
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal/flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 TBL chocolate chips
2 TBL chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the butter and the brown sugar until it's creamy and smooth. Add the applesauce, extracts and egg and beat well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt and soda. Pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix well, but do not over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.
Drop leveled off scoops (with a cookie scoop) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I like to use baking spray) and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are slightly golden. Cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

For 1 cookie: 96 calories, 7g fat, 7g carbs, 1g protein

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Low Carb/Low Fat)

It's official, Fall is in the air. My favorite season.
Autumn to me means soup, sweaters, and best of all: pumpkin.

We're BIG pumpkin-lovers at my house. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream, just to name a few. Of course, all those things that I normally make containing pumpkin are packed with sugar, and are now on the "no-no" list. Or are they??

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies...They're on my "yes, please!" list.

 My goal for making these was to not make them "these are good--for a low-carb cookie", kind of cookies. I wanted to make some that were "these are gooooood." Period.

 And guess what? THESE ARE GOOOOOOOD! PERIOD!!!

 They are more cake-like, which is how I like my pumpkin cookies. They're super moist, super sweet, and super crave-worthy. And best of all, they're extremely low in the carbohydrates and fat.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: (LOW CARB/LOW FAT)

makes 24 cookies

1/2 cup 100% pumpkin puree
4 TBL Splenda brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal/flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 TBL milk chocolate chips

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F.
Beat the pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until well mixed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Pour into the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and stir in. (Or you can be more specific like me, and measure out the chocolate chips before, and place them onto each cookie after the batter is measured out onto the cookie sheets.)
Using a cookie scoop, drop leveled out dollops onto a greased cookie sheet. (I like to use baking spray). I use a butter knife to level out the scoops, and then after I have 12 on the cookie sheet, I use the knife to spread the cookies out so they'll be more round and the size of a normal cookie instead of a small puff of a cookie. They may look like they'll be small, but they puff up to a good size.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (10 minutes was perfect for my oven) Adjust to your oven. You don't need to wait until they get really golden. They'll be very soft to the touch, but once they cool they'll be perfect. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a minute and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining batter, being sure to spray the cookie sheet again before. And just FYI, you'll really have to scrape the bowl to get that 24th cookie.

For 1 cookie: 63 calories, 3.5g fat, 6.5g carbs, 1g protein

Don't put off trying these. You'll LOVE them!!!