Peanut Butter Cookies

Growing up, peanut butter cookies were one of my favourites. They were one of the first things I made by myself, without my mom's help. I loved how easy they were to make, I loved pressing a fork down into the soft dough, I loved the peanut smell that filled the kitchen and I especially loved eating them.

Oddly, peanut butter cookies aren't something I've attempted gluten-free. Until now. And I think "attempted" covers it. 

I followed this recipe which is flourless, dairy-free and easily egg-free.

I started out with such good intentions! Even when I saw things were starting to go wrong, I pressed on and made the little fork indents, but... Well. You'll see.

It's certainly easy enough. Just five ingredients that all go into the mixer and get mixed well. The recipe I followed warned me that the dough would be thick, so I wasn't worried right away.

It was when I started scooping and rolling balls of dough that I became concerned. The "dough" was very oily. Like, dripping oil as I picked it up. Perhaps my peanut butter was too old, or not mixed well enough. It had been in my cupboard for awhile and it had started to separate when I pulled it out.

I "pressed" on anyways (get it?) and put the little fork indents in each cookie. I was so excited as I put them in the oven.

I should have taken a picture of my pan when they came out, but I was too ashamed to think about it. Here is a picture of some lemonade and a couple cookies though!

As you can see, the cookies are flat and hexagonal. Every cookie spread out until the pan was one giant blob of peanut butter cookie. There were still clear lines of where each cookie had been, so I cut them out and they were still delicious.

Very, very chewy. Like, there is no scarfing this cookie down. You can still see the fork indents, so I wasn't entirely upset, and they still tasted like heaven melting in my mouth. They had a very melty texture.

If I were to make this recipe again, I'd press it all into a baking dish and have thin peanut butter squares.

Next time though, I'll probably just make a recipe that calls for gluten-free flour. They'll probably hold up better.