Holiday Party Planning

I've been testing out certain recipes lately for the sole reason to wow my family this coming x-mas. I haven't celebrated x-mas with my family in eons and this year will be the first time for hubby.
Since I don't want my mother to stress over what I can and can't eat, I intend on bringing a feast to them...that is if Motozo agrees to help me carry the load for the 2 hour train ride there. So far, I only have this one dessert that is portable and very delicious! I know, I better get a little busier in the kitchen if I want to succeed in sharing more then 1 item, but this one I'm positive will be a winner! I can't wait for them to try this!

Sunday evening was an excellent time to test this recipe out. I pretty much followed Angela's recipe for Salt-Kissed Chunky Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (whew! That's a long name!) with minor adjustments using what I had on hand. I'm not sure if its because I used a different flour and sugar then hers, but the mixture turned out too crumbly and dry for me to shape it into cookies so I had to add more oil and liquid than the recipe stated.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

What I Used:

• 1 + 1/4 whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup organic brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp regular salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tbsp cacao nibs
• 3-4 tsp 100% cacao chips
• 1.5 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 4.5 tbsp canola oil 
• 1 tbsp rice milk

I'm sure if I followed her recipe to a T then it would have turned out better. She is a baking genius after all.  But these still turned out amazing! I'm still horrible at using my oven and put it on the wrong setting, so even though I only cooked them for 10mins like the instructions said, they turned out a litter browner then I'd have liked.
This photo shows the color a little better I think.

 

Even though they are hard on the outside, the inside retained their softness. Peanut butter and chocolate go so well together! The cacao nibs totally rock in these cookies giving them excellent crunch! I wish my cacao chips had a little bit of sweetness, because to a normal person (ie, hubby) it was a little too dark I think. But for myself, who is used to dark chocolate, it was perfect! Maybe I will try these next time with sweetened carob chips. 

After I made these, I was so proud of myself for not digging in immediately. I had a full and nutritious dinner before eating 4 cookies. :)

The next morning I almost ate them for breakfast, but made a deal with myself to have a green smoothie breakfast, vegetable/fruit lunch and an hour run before digging in. Running makes everything taste better and with cookies on my mind, my run went by fast!

And today, I'm feeling like cookies for breakfast again. Maybe its not a good idea to blog about food first thing in the morning. I promise I will run and drink a big green smoothie before cookies though!
Another drool worthy photo for you all. :-)

You know what I'll be thinking about during my run today.......