Vegan By Mercedes Aspland / June 12, 2015 As today is national Cookie Day in the United States I thought I would do a cookie recipe for you. In my recipe I wanted to use some of my favourite ingredients and let’s face it peanut butter and chocolate has to be one of the best combinations out there. I do not eat a gluten free diet but I do like to limit the amount of gluten in my diet so decided to make these cookies gluten free. So I decided to use Buckwheat Flour which is probably my favourite gluten free flour, it has such a lovely flavour and just works perfectly in all my baked goods. One of the best things about buckwheat is that it is not actually a grain and is in fact a seed which makes it perfect for anyone that is avoiding grains in their diet. This also leads to a number of health benefits including a reduced risk of high cholesterol and high blood pressure. It is also thought that consuming buckwheat can help to balance blood sugar and reduce the risk of diabetes. Buckwheat is also a good source of insoluble fibre which has a lot of health benefits including the fact that it can help prevent gallstones. It is also worth mentioning that a lot of studies have shown that buckwheat could be as good for you as fruit and vegetables so is a great addition to any diet. In terms of minerals, buckwheat is an excellent source of manganese and copper and well as having a good about of magnesium and phosphorus. So although these are yummy, tasty cookies they actually have some really great health benefits. Other great things in these cookies are the fact it contains low sodium salt giving a good balance of potassium and sodium and then there is the xylitol which is a sugar alcohol and naturally appears in fruits like berries and plums. It is actually sweeter than sugar so you need less and it has a much smaller effect on your blood sugar and is a good alternative for keeping your blood sugar balanced. Ok I now feel like I am banging on about health and taking the pleasure out of these cookies. Ultimately they taste really great and will be a treat the whole family will enjoy. function printContent(id){ str=document.getElementById(id).innerHTML newwin=window.open(”,’printwin’,’left=100,top=100,width=822,height=600′) newwin.document.write(‘nn’) newwin.document.write(‘Print Pagen’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(‘function chkstate(){n’) newwin.document.write(‘if(document.readyState==”complete”){n’) newwin.document.write(‘window.close()n’) newwin.document.write(‘}n’) newwin.document.write(‘else{n’) newwin.document.write(‘setTimeout(“chkstate()”,2000)n’) newwin.document.write(‘}n’) newwin.document.write(‘}n’) newwin.document.write(‘function print_win(){n’) newwin.document.write(‘window.print();n’) newwin.document.write(‘chkstate();n’) newwin.document.write(‘}n’) newwin.document.write(‘$(document).ready(function(){ $(“iframe”).remove();}) n’) newwin.document.write(‘$(document).ready(function(){ $(“#contactInfo”).remove();}) n’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(str) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.write(‘n’) newwin.document.close() } Gluten-Free Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies Makes 9 Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 10 mins Total Time : 25 mins Ingredients 60g/5 1/2 tbs Buckwheat Flour 2 tbs Cornflour (Cornstarch) 1/4 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder 1/8 tsp So Low Sodium Salt 1/2 tsp Ground Vanilla 3 tbs Coconut Oil 80g/1/3 cup Peanut Butter (i used chunky but smooth is just as good) 3 tbs Xylitol 50g Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 190C and line baking sheet with greaseproof paper. 2. Combine the flours, baking powder, so low and ground vanilla in a bowl and mix thoroughly 3. Whisk together the coconut oil and peanut butter until smooth and well combined. 4. Add the xylitol to the peanut butter mixture and continue to whisk until light and well combined. 5. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture along with 1-2 tbs of water and mix until a dough starts to form. I would start with 1 tbs and then if it is a bit dry you can add more water as needed. 6. Stir the chocolate chunks into your batter until well incorporated. 7. Divide into 9 equal portions, roll into balls and then space on baking sheet, pressing down and shaping into cookies. 8. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. 9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 mins before transferring to a wire rack to allow to cool completely. 10. Store in an airtight container for about a week (if they last that long!) Note These cookies may be slightly more crumbly than regular ones but don’t worry that won’t affect the taste. Nutrition We have already looked at so many of the benefits of these cookies but other things worth mentioning is that they are very low in cholesterol and very high in vitamin B6. The full nutritional details per cookie are below:
