gluten free pb-chocolate chip cookies

Have you, when financially times were tough, ever gone to a "cheaper" dentist to have semi-major work done?

This would be me about five-six years ago when hubby was in between jobs and money was tight--extremely tight.

And this is of course was the time that a tooth of mine decides to present a cavity.

For years having found the best dentist possibly on cape cod, who I love, admire and truly adore his craftsmanship for staying on top of the newest advances in dental work.  

Sadly this was the time I could not afford him.  

He is a lot pricier than other dentists and of course my dental insurance does NOT cover people like him.  

Which brings me to another point: why can't we go and get dental or other medical work done where we want?  The whole reason I'm going to a better dentist is so that it lasts longer/permanent and that its done RIGHT the first time.

Out of all the work I've had done with my good dentist, I've never once had any problem, nor will I ever have to have any of his work re-done later on in life.  

Whereas with the crappy dentist, every single tooth that I've had done I've only had to go to the good dentist to RE-DO!  Plus they still use unsafe materials (mercury).

Doesn't dental insurance want me to be fixed the right way the first time and save them money?

Or do they want me to keep going so that they make money--I know it's painfully obvious which choice it it.

So my day (yesterday) was spent at my good dentist fixing a problem tooth that was done as I said, five to six years ago.  The tooth couldn't handle the crown anymore; the crown was put on wrong (I knew this and lived with it, knowing I would have to at some point go back and get it done again).

But the pain it was causing was unbearable, so I spent most of the day at the dentist, dreading the six different needles I'd get.  

As I sat there waiting I became so enraged at the dental insurance and the fact that I'm supposed to use "one" of their approved dentists in the plan.  And on top of that, I think I'm allotted a mere $900.00 per year for dental work?  

Unreal right?  

I vowed to write the dental insurance a letter voicing my complaint, but I'm sure it would just fall on deaf ears.

As part of my "blogging new year" promise to you, I am finally going ahead, as per your with hundreds of requests of creating more 'gluten free' baked goodies.

And as luck would have it, my first attempt at baking gluten free came out perfectly.

I knew I wanted to use peanut flour, but it's so hard to find, and Trader Joe's doesn't carry it anymore sadly.

So I used coconut flour, which is wonderful, but a little pricey.

But the flavor the coconut flour lended to the cookies, mixed with the peanut butter....oh heavenly.

You must try these cookies!

You would never know they were gluten free.  Even my fussy husband loved these.

They are an odd shape, but who cares when they are just the tastiest lil nuggets.

gluten free peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies

print recipe

1 cup all-natural chunky or all natural smooth peanut butter (oily is ok, just not too oily)

¾ cup dark brown sugar (NOT packed)

1 large egg, room temp

1 egg yolk, room temp

1 ts pure vanilla extract

½ cup coconut flour

1 ts baking soda

1 ts sea salt

½ cup Bittersweet chocolate chips, optional

Cook notes:

This is very dry dough, so forming into cookie dough balls is a bit of work.

So what I did was just leave them as balls. They don’t spread at all when baking.

They are delicate and tend to break apart if you make them big.  Make the dough balls bigger than a tablespoon size.   You need to use this dough right away; leaving in fridge overnight will dry out the dough even more.

This recipe makes a small batch (about 12-15), if you want more, just double all the ingredients. I used bittersweet chocolate, semisweet was just too sweet and milk chocolate was way too sweet.

In a small bowl add the coconut flour, baking soda, and salt and mix, set aside.

In a small bowl mix the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

In a mixer or by hand, combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined.

Add egg to the cookie mixture, mix well.

Add in the flour mixture, by sprinkling it over the cookie dough, not just depositing it in one large dump. Mix till just combined.  (I used my hands to combine this—it was much easier).

Cover bowl with plastic wrap well and let it sit in fridge for about an hour to come together. Do not let this sit overnight as the dough becomes very dry!

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 365 degrees F.

Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place on non-stick cookie sheets or greased cookie sheets. If you can flatten them without breaking then go ahead.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. These cook up very fast, so I really wouldn’t go past the 15-minute mark.  To tell if they are done, there should be a slight crisp of the edges and a light golden brown color on the edges as well.

Cool on a baking sheet for a while. Do not try to lift them off the cookie sheet; they need to harden

Should make about 12-15 cookies (small batch). If you want more, just double all the ingredients.

They lasted about 3 days, covered.

blondies with chocolate truffles and cookie butter drizzle

Actual occurrence:
I have a bag of my favorite dark chocolate truffles (see photo below) sitting on counter.
I do not want to open truffles for fear of eating the whole bag.
(warning: the dark chocolate truffles from Whole Foods taste really good!)
So what do I do?
Bake with them, that way I cannot eat the whole bag.
Seems logical to me, right?
Well, it worked.  And I got a new recipe out from it!
Win win.
I swear blondies are the perfect baking vessel for leftover candy.







I'm having too much fun with the cookie butter drizzle.
I also made these cookie butter rice krispie treats.
Seriously "the" only way to make a rice krispie treat from now on.

cookie butter rice krispie treats

blondies with chocolate truffles and cookie butter drizzle

print recipe

10 TB unsalted butter, room temp

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 (heaping) ts baking powder

3/4 ts salt

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 ts pure vanilla extract

about 12-15 chocolate truffles (or you could use Hershey kisses—dark chocolate would work best)

cookie butter drizzle:

½ cup cookie butter

½ -1 TB vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease up an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick spray or butter or if you prefer using parchment paper then do so.

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

In a glass or cup, mix the eggs and vanilla extract until combined.

In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; cream on medium speed until smooth and fluffy.  Then add in eggs and vanilla mixing well.

Pour batter into prepared pan; spread with a rubber spatula or wet hands.

Place the chocolate truffles on top of batter.

Bake in oven for about 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into blondies comes out “almost” clean; okay to have a few bits of crumb on the cake tester. 

Cooking times vary depending on oven, so please check at 25-minute mark. 

Cool brownies at least an hour.

In a small saucepan heat up the vegetable oil, over low heat, add in the cookie butter. 

Stir until nice and creamy.  Drizzle melted cookie butter over cooled brownies.

Cut into squares.  You should get about 10-12 squares depending on how you cut them.

merry christmas everyone!

Happy Holidays everyone!
Thank you for being a part of my food blogging world.
It's because of you, your emails, your comments, your tweets that I keep on creating new
recipes.  You truly keep this alive, and I thank you for that.
I get so many emails asking for more cape cod beach photos, and it's been a while since I've
posted some.  So here you go...enjoy.

nauset light eastham, ma



When the sun does come out here, the sunsets of lately have been magical.
Seaview beach, south yarmouth, ma


chapin beach rd, dennis, ma (a great place to watch the sunset)


more of chapin beach rd. Like a ghost town in the winter. Not a soul around--so peaceful.

harwichport, ma 

harbor rd, town pier, harwichport, ma

harbor rd, town pier, harwichport, ma

harbor rd, town pier, harwichport, ma

nauset light beach, eastham, ma

le count hollow beach, wellfleet, ma

bayview beach, dennis, ma. This was about four hours before hurricane sandy hit.

bayview beach, dennis, ma.

seagull beach, yarmouth, ma

corporation beach, dennis, ma

chapin beach rd, dennis, ma

sandy neck beach, sandwich, ma
Summer is coming!

peppermint-chocolate caramels

I bet everyone is out shopping?
Baking?
Wrapping?
Anyone on a plane to the caribbean?
Can I join you?
As much as I love the holiday spirit, the energy, etc... this time of year, to be honest I'd rather celebrate it in a warm, sunny, tropical location.
Here on cape cod we haven't had sun in over a week now and it's truly draining on the spirits.
Nothing but rain and short, dark days.
But the good news, the winter solstice just happened which means starting after December 21 the days slowly (but surely) get longer.
Definitely something to look forward to.

Are there a few of you that are still afraid to venture into the process of caramel making?
I hope not.
They aren't that hard really. Once you do a first run, successful or not, you will see where you messed up (if you do).
It's really all about having a good candy thermometer and never leaving the pot. Stir, stir, stir.
As Emeril once said about making candies and caramels:  'you just need to set up camp at the pot'.
True.
I learned A LOT from this book when I first ventured into working with sugar the right way:

It's all about cooking caramel at the right temperature, getting the caramels to the right temperature, constantly stirring the caramel, and learning the right temperature to take caramels off the heat.  If you get a good candy thermometer (I use this one, since it clips on to the pot) it will tell you what temperature for hard caramels, soft caramels.

For these soft caramels you want the caramel to reach 248 degrees F.
Once it reaches that temp, all you have to do is take off the heat and add in whatever flavoring you want to add, mix, and them pour into prepared pan.
Once the mixture cools, then you just slice.
Fairly easy.

peppermint-chocolate caramels

print recipe

4 TB unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the baking dish

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, in chopped chunks or chips

1-cup whole milk

3/4 cup molasses

1cup sugar

1 ts peppermint extract (if you don’t like peppermint you can use vanilla extract)

½ cup finely chopped candy canes

Cook note: this is a very mild peppermint flavor. I do not like a lot of peppermint flavor. There is more of a molasses flavor and a gentle peppermint in the background.

Generously butter an 8x9 or 9 inch oval or square baking dish.

Clip a candy thermometer to the side of a medium, heavy saucepan.

Combine the butter, chocolate, milk, molasses and sugar in the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees on the thermometer.  This will take about 15 or more minutes—be patient.  Do not be tempted to turn up the heat to get temperature higher—you might burn the sugar. 

Continuously scraping the bottom of the pan with a silicon spatula (or a wooden spoon) so the mixture doesn’t stick and burn. Once you reach the temp of 248 degrees, take off the heat, and stir in the extract.  It will bubble up.  Give it a good stir then pour into prepared pan. Then working fast, sprinkle in the candy cane bits, and stir again till combined. Let this sit at room temperature at least an hour or longer before slicing. 

As soon as the caramel is cool enough to handle, transfer it to a cutting board and use a buttered chef’s knife (or scissors) to cut the caramel into ¾-inch-wide strips, and then crosswise into ¾-inch pieces.

When the caramels are completely cool, wrap them individually in wax paper, or layer in parchment paper in an airtight container.

Should make about 60 pieces, all depending on how you slice them. 

nutty cookie butter rice krispie treats

I love the taste of cookie butter.
I use it on almost everything that I would use peanut butter on: cookie butter & banana sandwich,
on my morning oatmeal, in my curry chicken, in my protein smoothie, etc...endless really.
The other day I saw the rounds of holiday rice krispie treats and thought instantly of why not use cookie butter in rice krispie treats.
I mean why hasn't anyone done this?
This batch I made on the fly, last minute and didn't know what would go with it, so I used white chocolate, and a bit of chopped pecans for a touch of texture.
The next time I make this I want to add in a touch of cream cheese for a hint of savory.
So if you make this, keep that in mind.

And for any of you last-minute louie gift seekers, this was made literally in 15 minutes.
Just saying!


Do I even need to stress to you how insanely good they are?
Do you have a last minute party?
Trust me trust me when I say you will wow your friends with this.
They will be saying "oh my gosh, what is that taste?--It's so good!"

nutty cookie butter rice krispie treats

print recipe

6 TB unsalted butter

6 ounces good quality white chocolate chips

use ¾ of an 11 ounce jar of cookie butter

a couple generous pinches of sea salt

10 ounce bag mini marshmallows

5 cups rice krispies

½ - ¾ cup of finely chopped & toasted pecans, optional but wonderful

for the cookie butter drizzle:

½ cup cookie butter

1 TB vegetable oil

Spray a 13 x 9-inch rectangular pan. Or line up with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. 

Just as the butter is almost all melted, add in the white chocolate and cookie butter. 

Keep stirring this and make sure not to let the bottom burn. 

Add in a couple generous size pinches of sea salt.

When this is almost all melted, add the marshmallows and keep stirring!

Once the marshmallows are all melted, take off heat and add in the rice krispies and nuts. 

Working fast, stir till combined. 

Pour mixture into prepared pan, using a spatula or your hands push down to place evenly and into all corners.

Let cool before drizzling with cookie butter drizzle.

If you want cookie butter drizzle, simply melt the ½ cup or so of cookie butter with the 1 TB of vegetable oil over low heat. 

Stirring constantly till all melted. 

Then just drizzle on rice krispie bars using a spoon.

To cut into bars use a sharp knife. 

Should make about 15-20 bars depending on how you slice them.  

chocolate-peppermint shortbread

Every year I, unlike my neighbors, like to wait till the very very last minute to have our lawn cleared of leaves.
When we first bought the house I went ahead like everyone else and had the leaves cleared in late October.  Bad mistake.
My trees laughed at me and proceeded to give me more leaves throughout November.
Having over one and half acres of land and almost all trees, clearing of the leaves is not a feat one can do by themselves unless you have a giant leaf-sucker-upper-thingee or a strong back and non-forming callus hands.
And we always have a storm/hurricane/nor'easter in october or november--been this way for the last three years now.
So the first falling of the leaves happens  mid October, then the seconds happens late November after whatever crazy NE storm comes at us; shaking the trees of their last hard-to-let-go leaves.
I feel smart waiting till late December, not only do I make sure every leaf falls, but I also get the lawn guys when they aren't crazy busy.
I have to give a big thank you to my lawn guys: Hoxie Landscape, every year they do a stellar job.
And a big thank you to Justin who happily (I think) deals with my type-A personality when it comes to my lawn. :-)

This year I surprised the guys with cookies, well actually it was the sweet & salty smore bark.
You should have seen their faces when I gave them the giant plate of bark.
Speechless, motionless--clearly they were not expecting food.
I left them the plate, thanked them for their hard work, got in my truck and drove away.
As I was turning down the road, past the house, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw all the guys, huddled up like a football team, just outside one of their trucks surely noshing on the bark.
It was like a feeding frenzy....
Curious--how long did that bark last?
It didn't have a chance did it?
This is why I love to bake and create, reactions on the faces, and to watch humans inhale my food.

Another nosh-worthy gift food are these peppermint-chocolate shortbread.
I used the same basic shortbread as the crust only this time made a chocolate-peppermint flavor.
Super easy to make, and tasty.
Because I firmly believe if you're going to give food as a gift make sure it's tasty, and eye appealing.

chocolate-peppermint shortbread

print recipe

for the peppermint shortbread:

8 oz. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup confectioners sugar

2 cups cake flour minus 2 TB

2 oversized TB cocoa powder

a splash or 3 of peppermint extract

¼ ts salt

for the white chocolate drizzle:

½ cup +/- of melted white chocolate with a touch of peppermint extract (add the peppermint extract in after the chocolate is melted, not before)

(see my copycat Nestle Crunch bars for peppermint-white chocolate)

¼ cup finely crushed candy canes for decorations

I used an 8 or 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom; this would work best, if you don't have this

then use an 8 or 9 inch baking pan and spray with non stick spray and/or line with parchment paper. 

In a bowl mix the cake flour and cocoa powder, set aside.

In a bowl (stand mixer or otherwise), cream together butter, sugar, peppermint extract, and salt.

Slowly work in cake flour mixture until well combined. 

No need to overmix, small lumps here and there are fine. This is a very dry dough.

Using wet fingertips, spread dough into pan, making sure to get all the corners evenly.

Place prepared pan into fridge to firm up a bit before baking.  At least an hour.

If you cover this well enough you can leave it overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat over to 350 degrees.

Bake 21 - 25 minutes until edges are LIGHTLY golden brown or just firm. 

Don't look for complete overall doneness; it’s ok if middle is a little soft.

Make sure to rotate pan halfway through baking too.

Let this cool in pan for at least an hour. 

Remove from pan, and slice into bars or sticks, which ever you like.

Place over wire racks with parchment paper underneath.

Drizzle melted white chocolate over the bars and decorate with finely crushed candy canes.

Makes about 20+ sticks, depending on how you slice them.