a cookie recipe - and a therapy session

Baking has been therapy for me lately. There's just something about January that makes you feel blah constantly. The hype of the holiday season is gone, most people have failed at their new years resolution. I have to admit I cracked and ate some candy at work when I forgot my lunch. I regret that decision entirely, but am not going to be hard on myself, because I WAS STARVING. I'm still doing the no refined sugar thing, but if I happen to have a piece of candy once a month, I'm not going to kill myself. The main thing is baking, cooking, and grocery shopping. I won't buy sugar, but if I'm at a birthday party and there's a bowl of starbursts on the table... don't mind if I do ;] Anyways, glad I cleared my conscious on that one... I had to admit that I ate sugar to someone... So why not the entire universe through the internet. To makes things clear, I'm still avoiding sugar. Phew, glad that's all on the table.

Anyways, back to baking being my therapy. 

Baking relieves a lot of stress for me. It's something that I can do on my own time, I can experiment, and it makes our apartment smell nice. All three positive reasons to bake in January.

It has also been fun baking without sugar. I'm learning a lot about natural sweeteners, and healthier substitutes. These cookies happen to be sugar free, dairy free, and gluten free. And no, they don't taste like cardboard, more like gooey goodness. Wham bam, thank you ma'am.

peanut butter coconut chocolate chip cookies

{makes 2 dozen cookies}

:::ingredients:::

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup applesauce

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

a dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips {semi sweet cocoa chips that are both dairy and sugar free}

:::instructions:::

*Cream together peanut butter, applesauce, and honey. Slowly add 1 egg at a time. Add all of the other ingredients {minus the coconut and chips} until well blended. Stir in the chips and coconut.

*Consume a few bites of dough.

*Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

*While cookies are baking, proceed to lick the entire bowl.

*YUM.