Tasty, (almost) Guilt-free Peanut Butter Cookies

We have stopped using many processed foods. For instance, we exchanged pure butter for margarine and olive oil for vegetable oil. When pans need to be coated, we spray them with olive oil cooking spray. We make an effort at portion control. While I did use white sugar in my recipe, I only made one batch. And while we used to grab several cookies at a time, we limit ourselves ro how many we take. We know these are small things but they are all part of adapting to a healthier lifestyle.

Last year, we started a gluten-free diet in an effort to diagnose some health problems my son was having. It turns out that he is not gluten intolerant but it made us more label conscious of our foods. Please note, I said "label" meaning that we began to be even more conscientious about what we ate, contrating on healthy over dietic. This cookie recipe is not super low fat or calorie free. It is simply a bit more healthy than its original recipe. The fact that it has less fat and calories desn't hurt, though!

The best thing about this recipe is the time it takes and how easy it is to make them. You don't have to be a great baker to turn out these delicious cookies! And you only need one bowl and pan so there is very little clean up!

This recipe would easily accomodate several variations but one favorite is to add Hershey Kisses in the center to make Peanut Butter Kisses. While Hershey's doesn't have a sugar free kiss, you can get sugar free chocolate chips.

If you want lower calories and/or less fat, you can adapt this recipe further with a few simple exchanges:

• Use egg whites instead of a whole egg.
• Make your cookies flourless. Peanut butter cookies are also delicious when they are baked without flour
• Use a lower fat/calorie peanut butter. I wouldn't worry as much about this because peanut butter is a great source of protein, making it a healthier fat as long as you stick to a natural one.
• Substitute sugar free sweetener for the sugar.
• Substitute applesauce for the sugar.

As I said at the beginning, we were concerned with gluten intolerance. To read and understand a little more about this, please check out my hub, Am I Gluten Intolerant?