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There is a flourless peanut butter cookie recipe that is pretty popular: just sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. It looked and sounded amazing, but had too much refined sugar in it. I was hoping for something a little “healthier.” Basically less sugar.

First I made the original recipe and I have to say, I wasn’t super impressed. I mean, it was chewy and had a nice texture. It set well and is not oily, which is something I was very worried about. They tasted good enough, but nothing life changing.

Next I made the recipe by cutting the sugar in half and using brown sugar. I felt these had both better texture and better flavor, especially thanks to the brown sugar. I much preferred the reduced sugar, and they still set okay and were not oily.

Finally, I tried to make the cookies with honey, my preferred sweetener. These did not go well. I added almond meal to thicken the batter enough to form the cookies. These were chewy, but the flavor was only okay.

Then I had Will do a blind taste test. The results:

1. Original – dry, with the best flavor
2. Brown sugar – very good, with the best texture; best cookie of the three
3. Honey – just a bit odd

So, with these final results, here is the winning recipe for grain-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free flourless peanut butter cookies:

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup natural peanut butter (can be replaced with other nut butters for a paleo cookie)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Combine ingredients well in a mixing bowl
3. Spoon mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten down with a fork
4. Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden brown around the edges
5. Let cool and enjoy!

With high quality ingredients, this can be a very good treat. Use a high quality granulated, natural sugar. The peanut butter should have only one ingredient: peanuts. Maybe a little salt. The egg should be pastured and the vanilla should be real, not imitation.

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