Peanut Butter Granola Bars

 
     Do you know how hard it is to push the "publish" button when you've been away for a while? Whew! I didn't mean to be away for so long, but one thing led to another, life happened, and time slipped away from me.

     So I'm easing back in with these peanutty granola bars. My friend Lisa shared this recipe-from The Marathon Mom- with me. Her family goes through a batch of them every week, and I can see why! They mixed up in a jiffy (no oven needed) with ingredients I had on hand, and turned out crunchy and delicious.

     At my house, granola bars are just as good for hurried mornings as they are for hungry afternoons. These are a great alternative to the preservative laden bars you get from the grocery store that are made with ingredients you can't pronounce. Oats, wheat germ, honey, coconut oil, peanut butter and peanuts- that's it! You will need to keep them in the refrigerator though- they get gooey if they sit out.

     It's good to be back. It felt good to dust off my camera. I even enjoyed my little hamperer helper. (I don't know if Merlin was after the birds or the bars.)  And I plan to be back sooner than I was the last time. :)

You can find the recipe for these Peanut Butter Granola Bars at The Marathon Mom. 

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Whenever I bring goodies to work, I always feel bad because some of my co-workers are on a gluten free diet, and very few of my recipes fit that category. So...since I knew I was bringing a little something to work tomorrow that was not gluten free (more on that later) I thought I would do a little research and find a suitable recipe for a gluten free alternative to bring as well. After searching a while and being discouraged because most of the recipes contained specialty items I didn't have in my pantry, I came across this recipe on gfe-gluten free easily.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I adapted the recipe just a bit, without compromising the gluten free ingredients. I couldn't believe that there was no flour or flour substitute... these cookies are amazing! Just don't bake them too long. You'll want to take them out before they're too brown if you like your cookies chewy. If you like them crunchy, leave them in a little longer.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from gfe
1 (18 oz.) jar Jif Peanut Butter, Extra Crunchy (about 2 cups)
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs from happy hens
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla (gluten free-I used Sonoma Syrup Vanilla Crush)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix together all ingredients. (How easy is that?)
• With lightly greased fingers (I used olive oil) roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on parchment covered baking sheet. Do not flatten the dough balls!!
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly brown. They should look "set" but not done. After removing the cookies from the oven, let them stay about 5 minutes on the baking sheet to finish cooking before removing to a rack to cool.
• Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies

I thought these would be really good rolled in some lightly salted chopped peanuts before baking, but since my peanut can didn't say "gluten free" I didn't try this. A very light sprinkling of a good sea salt would be yummy as well!