OK, you know I have been trying to substitute white flour and sugar with other ingredients that are better for me. Well yesterday, I had what could only be described as a colossal failure. Even though the people who wrote comments on the recipe I tried gave the cookies rave reviews, I have to wonder how much they were paid for their comments. Because anyone who has ever tasted a really good dark chocolate chip and pecan cookie, could not possibly have found the outcome of the recipe I tried, even remotely palatable. After this not so positive experience, in my humble opinion, exclusive use of almond flour and monk fruit sweetener does not an edible chocolate chip cookie make. And I had such high hopes. (Based again on the positive, glowing comments.)

But instead, what I got were flat, run together cookies with a bitter aftertaste that lingered long enough that even biting into the rind of a grapefruit was sounding good.

Because the first batch had run together so horribly, in my determination to make lemonade, I decided to bake the second batch in greased muffin cups. Surely, they couldn’t spread if confined to a small area. I took them out of the oven, let them cool in the pan, and then had the very devil of a time liberating the crumbled results from the muffin tin. I swear, what remained in the pan could have been used as a semi-edible adhesive! What a mess.

Now, of course this had to be the day one of Mr. C’s jazz groups was going to hold their weekly jam session in our living room. In fact, the cookies were being baked just for these guys. Well, I certainly couldn’t serve these bitter, fall apart bad boys to these wonderful gentlemen. They would have thought I was trying to poison them! So, I quickly made a pan of the blondies from the recipe you find attached. Which BTW turned out to be absolutely delicious.

I found the basic recipe on the galonamission.com site. I of course couldn’t leave the original recipe alone. So, I added peanuts and peanut butter chips. (My philosophy has always been – guild the lily anytime you get the chance. So, that’s just what I did!)

So, if you too are an “all things peanut” lover, this is the easy to prepare bar cookie recipe for you.

Even though I had a major disaster in the kitchen yesterday, I also had a win. Plus, I got to listen to this great group of guys (they call themselves “Seabreeze”) play some wonderful old tunes. Ah, live music. There is just nothing like it. And to my other chocolate chip cookie recipes – you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You are nowhere near becoming extinct!

Peace and love to all.

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 c. light brown sugar

½ c. creamy peanut butter (not natural style)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 lg. egg

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

½ c. peanuts

½ c. peanut butter chips

Lightly butter an 8×8-inch baking dish. Set aside

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and light brown sugar. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla, egg, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the flour. When just combined, stir in the peanuts and peanut butter chips. Spread evenly in the prepared baking dish.   

Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Do not overbake. When cool, the blondies should have the consistency of an underdone brownie.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container.