Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (grain-free, gluten-free, primal, GAPS-option)

My husband always requests cookies for his birthday.  Last year, we had chewy cinnamon almond cookies, but this year I wanted to develop a new chocolate chip cookie recipe.  These cookies are not very dense, and for whatever reason they are much tastier after being refrigerated (and they are even soft enough to eat straight out of the freezer). Chocolate and peanut butter = Yum!

The challenge in making these GAPS-legal is to find chocolate chips that are GAPS-legal.  The chocolate chips I used are dairy-free and soy-free, but they do still have evaporated cane juice as a sweetener so they are not GAPS-legal.  You could just omit the chocolate chips to make them fully GAPS-legal, and they are quite yummy that way too. And you can see that they are very pretty without the chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter, preferably from grassfed cows
• 1 cup mild-flavored honey
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 Tb organic vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, preferably from pastured hens
• 3/4 tsp fine-ground celtic sea salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 3 Tb almond flour, preferably from crispy nuts
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)*
• 1/2 cup chopped crispy pecans (optional)
• Optional equipment: stand mixer**

 

1. Set your oven racks so that none are in the bottom third of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the salt, baking soda, coconut flour, and almond flour.  Whisk well to combine and break up any lumps of coconut flour.
3. Beat the softened butter for a couple minutes, until it is light and fluffy.
4. Add the honey and continue to beat for a few more minutes until the honey is incorporated very well.  If you are using a stand-mixer, make sure you scrape the sides and bottom a couple times to get everything incorporated well.
5. Add the peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well, scraping the bowl as needed.
6. Add the eggs one at a time while the mixer is running.  The easiest way to do this is to break all of the eggs into a bowl or cup and then just pour them in one-at-a-time.  Let each egg get incorporated before adding another one.
7. While the mixer is running, add the dry ingredients a little at a time.  Since coconut flour does not contain gluten, there is no worry of over-mixing it!
8. Stir in the optional chocolate chips and pecans. 
9. Scoop the cookies onto greased cookie sheets (or line the cookie sheets with silpats, which are wonderful since the cookies never stick and are less likely to burn).  I like to use a 1-Tb scoop for consistently pretty cookies, but you could just use a spoon.
10. If you like, press down the cookies slightly with a spoon or fork.  In the pictures above, the plain peanut butter cookies were not pressed down, and you can see that they are nicely rounded on top.  Pressing down will give you a flatter cookie, like the chocolate chip ones in the top picture.
11. Bake the cookies at 325 F for about 16-20 minutes (or a few minutes longer if you are cooking them on stoneware). They are done when they are golden brown on top and a little darker brown on the edges.
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Then use a spatula to move them to a cooling rack.
13. Once cool, store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.  They are nice and chewy straight from the fridge, and even soft enough to eat straight out of the freezer!  Storing them in the freezer will also remove the pressure of having to eat them all in a week or so, as they will last for months in the freezer.

*I used dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips, but they are still not GAPS-legal. To make this recipe GAPS-legal, you may have to omit the chocolate chips or try to make your own using honey as a sweetener.
**I love using my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer for making cookies as it makes it very easy to add the ingredients while the mixer is running.