Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Flourless)

I am not the biggest peanut butter fan. I don't like peanut butter jelly sandwiches and you will never see me eat peanut butter out of the jar. That's David's go to quick snack. However, I do enjoy peanut butter cookies. Probably because the extra sugar helps mask some of the peanut taste. So I definitely enjoy these cookies.

They are especially tasty because they are gluten-free. When we decided to cut back our gluten intake, I started to be on the look out for desserts and snacks that were gluten-free. We both love sweets and dessert-y stuff, so finding recipes that were gluten-free was a little important. I happened upon this recipe in a Southern Living magazine a couple of years ago and immediately copied it so I could bake it at home. It was a huge hit for everyone in the apartment. Not only are they good cookies, but we found they were a good snack after a big workout and great travel food. If they didn't have some self-control the guys would have probably eaten a good 3.5 dozen cookies in 2 days.

The cookies aren't exactly healthy, but if you are cutting back on carbs and/or gluten, this is a great cookie to have around. I made a few adjustments to the original recipe because I felt too much sugar was being used and the chocolate chips weren't quite right. One more note before I share the recipe, 1 cup of peanut butter is about half the jar. So I just use the whole jar at once and this way you don't have leftover peanut butter if you don't eat a lot of it and you make more cookies at one time. The recipe I'll be sharing is for using a whole jar of peanut butter and yields 3.5 to 4 dozen cookies.

1    jar creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2    large eggs
1    tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 bag mini-chocolate chips

*If you are going to half the recipe, keep using the 3/4 cup of sugar because that was in the original recipe. Or half it if you want to still cut back on the sugar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir peanut butter, sugar, eggs, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl until well blended.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to continue cooling.

The batter will be a little mushy but will stiffen up when the chocolate chips are added.

I spray baking Pam on the tablespoon so the batter won't stick to it and will drop onto the pan easily.

If you use regular metal pans, I highly recommend using parchment paper. But if you use a stone pan, just spray a little baking Pam and it will work great.

The cookies are REALLY soft when they are taken out of the oven, so definitely let them sit and cool for a few minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack.

They are great with tea or milk or coffee. And perfect as a dessert or a snack.

Enjoy!