George Stella's 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

This George Stella recipe has been floating around Facebook for months now. My co-worker made them but I had never tried baking them myself, but today I was feeling motivated and really craving something sweet, which is weird for me because I'm not a big sweets person.

But these peanut buttery, crispy cookies hit the spot. They are so rich tasting that just one did the trick and they are only 2 carbs per cookie!

I'll definitely be making these often, so easy and so delicious!

The Recipe:

OLD-FASHIONED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 
Flourless, Gluten Free, and Guilt Free 

Recipe from “The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook” 2014
By George Stella

Prep Time 10 min / Cook Time 12 min / Serves 8; 2 cookies each

SHOPPING LIST 
1 cup all-natural smooth peanut butter 
1 cup sugar substitute 
1 large egg, slightly beaten 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mixing well to create the cookie dough. 

3. Use a tablespoon to drop the spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the lined pan. Then use a fork to press the dough down, creating a criss-cross pattern on each cookie. 

4. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

HELPFUL TIPS 
It is important to let cool completely before removing from the pan and also be careful not to overcook as these cookies are inherently "crumbly".

These are almost 100% peanut butter, and that’s a very good thing!

The recipe above says you can make 16 but I actually got 17 cookies out of the recipe and they are good size cookies with a nice thickness as you can see above. Loving the Low Carb/High Fat lifestyle!


 

Lemon Almond Meal Shortbread

This is the 2nd post I wrote for the new blog that never was, Low Carb Thrills. It was a good idea, but just not for me. Enjoy!

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There are so many great cooks and bloggers out there that have jumped on the low carb wagon. So if you want to make something, just google that item as a low carb alternative and you will probably find something terrific.

I was hoping to find a great recipe for making Snickerdoodles so I searched my Sweets and Treats Pinterest Board and found 6 recipes for cookies. I read over each one and found that most of them use Almond Meal and fortunately I had some.

I combined several of the different ingredients and came up with a Lemon Almond Meal Shortbread.

Ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup granulated Stevia
1/2 cup of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract (I added this at the last minute because I love the scent of lemon & vanilla together)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
     I let the butter come to room temperature but you can place it in the microwave for a few seconds just to soften it, you don't want it totally melted. 
     In a medium sized bowl I combined the butter and the Stevia and creamed those together, then I added the almond meal and both the extracts and combined them until they formed a dough.

***Tip...At this point it would be a good idea to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for a few minutes. I didn't do this and it was difficult to roll out the dough.***

     Roll out the dough to amount 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a round cookie cutter or whatever shape floats your boat.
     Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, I ended up with 20 cookies and bake for 10 minutes at 350. I broiled the tops of mine just to make them a bit crispier.
     These aren't very sweet and they are very crumbly, but they are a good little cookie to have when you get a sweet tooth. I placed mine in a plastic container in the fridge and I plan to take them with me on a camping weekend coming up.