Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

These delicious little treats were inspired by the Peanut Butter Graham No-Bake Thumbprint Cookies over at Little Bitty Bakes, with one big change: they’re baked! Actually, I made two versions, one baked and one no-bake. They’re both scrumptious, but my sweetie and I both liked the baked version just a teensy bit better.

PB&J Cookies: No-Bake Version

Remember, though, that we live in San Francisco, where the temperature rarely peaks above 70F, even during this Hottest Summer on Record. If you’re in any other part of the US right now, you’re probably scorching, and the thought of turning on your oven makes you want to scream. In that case, go for the no-bake version! They truly are tasty.

I would love to try these with almond butter or sunflower seed butter. Crushing the graham crackers also gives me some ideas for other “crushable” foods that would make a good cookie base, like Rice Krispies, perhaps, though I’m not sure how much nut butter they would soak up. Guess I’ll just have to try!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies (baked)

With just 4 ingredients, these are incredibly easy to make and in a very short time, you’ll have a yummy batch of cookies ready to share. If you try these or a variation, I’d love to hear your results!

UPDATE 8/17/12 9:44am: I originally called these vegan because I personally don’t consider honey vegan ~ although I know many people do. So… vegan or not, they’re still yummy!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies

Ingredients for about 2 dozen cookies

• 2 cups crushed graham crackers
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• Jam / jelly / preserves in your favorite flavor

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (or skip this step!).
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, and honey.
3. Hand-roll into 1-inch balls with your hands, place on a cookie sheet, then flatten each one slightly. Press your thumb or index finger into the center to make an indentation.
4. Spoon jelly into the indentation of each cookie.
5. If you’re making the no-bake version, stick in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up. Otherwise, bake for 8 minutes.
6. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes to firm up. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Is it scorching hot right now where you live?

Do you have a favorite baked or non-baked cookie recipe? Share it!

Perfect Guacamole (Vegan, GF, Raw)

Perfect Guacamole

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

Summertime in California is the season for guacamole…and for everybody’s close-to-the-heart recipe for their very own “perfect” guacamole!

There are SO many ways to make guac, and so many are delicious.

There are also so many people (ahem, guilty) who swear their guac recipe is the finest, the ultimate, the ONLY ONE you’ll ever need.

Some people like to add tomatoes, onion, salsa, cilantro…or even (of course) bacon. My take is that the star of the guacamole is the avocado and anything that detracts from the star lessens its performance. I want avocado, plain and simple. Well, just dressed up a teeny, weensy bit.

The trick is to make it smooth, brisk, and salty…but not too much of those qualities. I know, some of you like your guac chunky. But trust me, once you’ve tried a hand mixer, you might never go back to potato-masher-ing your avocados. The hand mixer is the secret sauce here; the limes and salt are just frosting on your avocado cake.

What’s YOUR version of perfect guacamole? I’d love to know, even though I’ll never make it

Perfect Guacamole (Vegan, Raw)

Ingredients

• 5 medium ripe avocados
• 2 limes
• sea salt

Steps

1. Slice the avocados in half, remove the pits, and squish the fruit from the peel into a bowl.
2. Juice the limes into the avocado mash.
3. Add a bunch of sea salt.
4. Use a hand blender to process until smooth. Add more salt as desired.
5. Serve with tortilla chips or Mary’s Gone Crackers; spread on a flaxseed wrap or add to a collard wrap; serve with fish tacos; spoon out and eat on its own; the possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Do you have a favorite guacamole recipe you’d like to share?

Carob-Dusted Raw Power Bites (Vegan, GF, No Sugar Added)

Carob-Dusted Raw Power Bites

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

These little treats are similar to my Chocolate-Coconut Energy Bites, but with two major differences: sunflower seeds and carob. Sunflower seeds are anti-inflammatory, making them excellent for recovery. And unlike cacao, carob doesn’t have any stimulating properties, so you can eat these right before bed and not worry whether they’ll keep you awake.

Carob is less sweet than cacao, however, so if you like your treats sweeter but don’t want the extra sugar (stimulating just like caffeine!), you can add some stevia to the mix.

Carob-Dusted Raw Power Bites

Like the chocolate-coconut bites, these little guys are loaded with antioxidants, healthy fats, alkalizing properties, and pure deliciousness.

They’re an excellent refueling and recovery snack after a hard workout, but they’re equally good as a healthy dessert.

I make these very small: the recipe can roll out as many as 22 miniature servings. But if you’re a big fan, you can make 12 1-inch bites instead. Or double the recipe and make 24 1-inch bites

Carob-Dusted Raw Power Bites

Carob-Dusted Raw Power Bites (Vegan, Gluten-Free, No Sugar Added, Raw)

Ingredients for 12 regular or 22 mini servings

• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked 4-6 hours
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours
• 3 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp. + 4 Tbsp. raw carob powder for dusting
• Optional: 10 drops (or 1 packet) of stevia

Steps

1. Drain and rinse the cashews and sunflower seeds.
2. In a food processor, blend together the cashews, sunflower seeds, coconut oil, and 1 Tbsp. carob powder.
3. Hand-roll into 1-inch or 1/2-inch balls with your hands, then roll in the carob powder to dust.
4. Freeze for 15 minutes. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Do you eat before working out?

If you run long distances, do you have a favorite snack for long runs?

Grain-Free Sprouted Bean Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

If you followed my sprouts recipe from a few weeks ago, you’re probably already a sprout-making pro! But you might be wondering what else you can do with sprouted mung beans and sprouted lentils, besides adding them to salads and sandwiches. Not to mention, if you’re eating gluten-free, you might not even be eating sandwiches!

This bread is a delicious, wholesome alternative to store-bought breads and it’s also a fantastic way to use your sprouts!

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

This bread is an adaptation and blend of a couple of recipes I found online. It’s artisan-style, so not necessarily something you’d use to build a club sandwich or a Reuben But it is excellent toasted and spread with nut butter or cream cheese.

I apologize for the lighting in the photos, but sometimes you just have to work with what’s available…know what I mean?

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

Grain-Free Sprouted Bean Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sprouted lentils
• 1 cup sprouted mung beans
• 1 cup garbanzo flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 chia egg (see recipe)
• 4 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. brown rice syrup

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a blender or food processor, blend the sprouted beans at medium speed until pasty.
3. Use a hand mixer to mix in the flour, sunflower seeds, and all other ingredients.
4. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
5. Spread the mixture evenly in the loaf pan. Sprinkle extra sunflower seeds on top if you like.
6. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
7. Turn the oven off and let the bread sit inside for 1 more hour. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Have you ever used legumes in bread?

Do you have a favorite bread recipe?

Things I Love Thursday

Hello, friends!

First, a short announcement that I’ll be transitioning everyone’s favorite Things I Love Thursday to a twice-a-month posting instead of weekly, starting the week after next. Just so it’s not all kinds of overwhelming for you OR for me and frees up some space for me to write other stuff.

And next… er, I didn’t really have any “next.” Except this week’s weblicious delights! Enjoy!

1. A cute’n'breezy font you can download for free! From Font Squirrel via How About Orange:

2. Ziggy Stardust 40th Anniversary reissue, via Rolling Stone:

David Bowie plays Mick Ronson's guitar, Oxford Town Hall, June 17, 1972 by Oliver Craske

The album that changed my life and defined the foundation for my personal space oddity. Do I NEED a reissue? No. Will I happily accept the full DVD reissue if someone were to give it to me as a gift? Oh, well, you don’t have to. But if you must.

3. Seven adorable Mad Men-worthy spring dresses, via 7×7:

This pink one’s my fave. Cute for work! I work from home, but if someone (moi?) were to have a spring party, I’d wear one of these dresses to that.

4. When catastrophe strikes, emulate the octopus. Via Wired.

They’re extremely adaptable and deal with survival in a variety of ways: everything from changing color to shooting their black ink to changing shape.

Wired says:

This ability to both observe problems and then respond to them with multiple solutions is a hallmark of the most adaptable organisms on earth. The trick is not in knowing the single solution. It’s having lots of different options and solutions to turn to.

Sounds like a critter I can look up to. An excellent article about an animal to emulate.

5. Foam Magazine shared LACMA’s California Design exhibit, “Living in a Modern Way”:

I would take a trip down to LA just to see this. What incredible design!

6. Balanced Bites shared some lemon-rosemary broiled salmon:

A super-easy recipe that’s full of super-nutrition. I love the addition of rosemary! Great idea.

7. Mocha chocolate cake with mocha buttercream frosting, from The Fit Cookie:

Oh, dear. This looks soooooo good. And it’s free of refined ingredients, vegan, gluten-free, common-allergen-free… So, it’s totally share-able in any environment. Maybe I’ll make it this weekend. Will post pics if I do!

8. Million-dollar misprints, via The Grindstone:

These are crazy but understandable mistakes!

If you ever needed a reason to hire a proofreader (ahem), here it is. Seriously, these are million-dollar lawsuits! Granted, that guy should have questioned his offer letter, but still… Proofreaders: We Catch Costly Mistakes. That should be my new tagline.

9. This gorgeous, colorful room:

I found this on Pinterest and have NO idea where it came from. If you know where this photo originated and/or if you are the photographer, please let me know! Thanks!

10. Finally, are these the cutest spring treats ever, or what? Via Sweet Sugarbelle:

They’re made with Jordan Almonds! SO CUTE and springy. I’d almost feel bad eating them.

That’s all for now! Have a wonderful weekend!

What are some great things you’ve seen this week?

Got any fun plans for the weekend?