Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies have a story.  I first made them for my husband, John, 7 years ago when we were dating.  Everyone knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and I was pretty determined to win him over.  One day during work, John went to Subway and picked up a sandwich and a peanut butter cookie for lunch. He went home for his lunch break to eat and take his dogs outside.  John never got to eat his cookie because his dog Chloe got to it first.  So, I made him these cookies and let's just say the rest is history.  John loved the cookies and even his friends were requesting I make them.  Today I modified the recipe to make them more nutritious:

1 cup oat flour
1 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1 cup REAL peanut butter
preheat oven to 375
mix together oat flour, baking soda & salt.  set aside.  in large bowl mix soft butter with sugar, then add peanut butter.  I am generous with the peanut butter.  beat until smooth then add egg and vanilla.  at low speed slowly add in flour mixture.  bake 10-12 minutes.
prep time: 15 min.

A few notes:  white flour has no nutritional value.   Instead, think of using oat flour or wheat flour.  They are both high in fiber and protein.  Turbinado sugar is a more pure sugar and has fewer calories than white granulated sugar.  I bought the oat flour and turbinado sugar in the bulk section at Whole Foods.  Real peanut butter is SO much better for you than Jiff or Peter Pan.  Real peanut butter only contains peanuts and salt.  We eat a lot of peanut butter in our house so I buy the 2-pack Kirkland brand at Costco.  Jiff, Skippy, Peter Pan, etc. are high in sugar and contain both partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.  These oils  are trans fats, which are the worst kinds of fats.  They raise your bad (LDL) cholesterol and lower your good (HDL) cholesterol.  These trans fats are also very hard for your body to digest.

TIP: when baking cookies, don't be afraid to use less sugar then the recipe calls for.  They'll still taste great, they just won't be uber sweet.