I’m always on the lookout for delicious, yet healthy cookie recipes. You can never have enough, right?

And these are just that. No butter. No eggs. No sugar. Just peanut butter. Chocolate (okay, maybe a little bit of sugar). Maple Syrup. And some other basic ingredients.

These satisfy my sweet tooth. Which is important, especially because lately it’s been out of control. After every meal I feel the need for a small piece of something sweet. Usually chocolate.

The awesome thing about these cookies? I don’t feel guilty when I eat one. Or two. And, as always, my kids loved them. They’re kid-approved!

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

recipe slightly adapted from The Fauxmartha

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (plus more for sprinkling, if wanted)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (I bet coconut oil would be good as well)
• 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a larger bowl, whisk together your peanut butter, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla until all mixed together. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour until ingredients are combined.
4. Stir in dark chocolate.
5. Refrigerate dough for 15-30 minutes.
6. Using a tablespoon, scoop dough onto lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Using a fork, make a criss-cross pattern on each cookie and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt if desired.
7. Bake 10-13 minutes or until the bottoms are starting to brown. Mine were perfect at 10 minutes. Let cool, and then move to a wire rack.
8. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Okay. So, these are not actually “graham” crackers. There’s no graham flour in them. Instead I used whole wheat flour. But they taste like a graham cracker. Better than a graham cracker actually. A little thicker. A little tastier.

I’m always on the lookout to make things homemade. Bread. Cookies. Crackers. Snacks. I’ve been making these graham crackers for awhile, and thought I would blog about them because they are so good.

I rolled these out to a 8×11″ rectangle. Next time I might roll them out even thinner to get more of that cracker feel. Either way they are really good.

Sometimes I like to sub out the cinnamon for cocoa powder and make chocolate graham crackers. This recipe is so versatile. You could do pretty much whatever you want to. And one of my favorite things? Honey is used in the recipe instead of white sugar. (Although I did sprinkle a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar on top of the crackers before baking. Yum).

Cinnamon Graham Crackers

recipe from a comment over on 100 Days of Real Food

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey
• a little cinnamon and sugar mixed, to sprinkle on top of the crackers (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the butter and honey. Then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until a ball of dough forms. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of milk to get it to all come together.
4. Press dough into lined baking sheet. This time around my rectangle was 8×11 but next time I might try to get it even thinner.
5. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of dough, and bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are turning light brown and the cracker is set.
6. Immediately out of the oven, cut into whatever shape you want, and enjoy!

– Jill

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I have a thing for scones. The best ones are dense but tender. They might fall apart slightly, but somehow they’re still moist. All that is probably thanks to the half and half and butter. Oh, yum.

My favorite place to go when I have some “me” time is Caribou Coffee. Being able to get out of the house, visiting with friends, reading a book in peace or just drinking coffee without someone talking to me is a really nice luxury when you are the mom to 4 little kids. So, I find myself at Caribou once or twice a week. My friend, The Inspired Cook, introduced me to their Lemon and Thyme Scones. At first, I was a little hesitant. Lemon and thyme? That seemed like a weird combination for a scone. I was wrong! These are so good.

The lemon and thyme combo is great. They play off of each other well. The flavors are subtle, which is really nice.

I made these using whole wheat pastry flour. I don’t think I’ll ever use all-purpose flour again. You can’t even tell these are made with whole wheat flour. Seriously. Whole wheat pastry flour is so fine and soft that it’s perfect for all your baking needs. Scones, muffins, cookies, bars, pancakes, whatever you want. Except bread. I would probably use regular whole wheat flour for bread.

That said. The whole wheat flour is the only healthy thing about these. There’s sugar, butter, half and half, and powdered sugar. So, we’ll eat these once in a while as a tasty treat.

Lemon and Thyme Scones

recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I think I’m going to try replacing this with honey next time)
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• For the glaze: 3 cups powdered sugar, 6 T half & half, and 1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and thyme. Grate in your cold butter until your flour is a really fine, sand-like texture.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together, your half & half, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir this into your flour mixture. Roll it into a ball, and on a lightly floured surface, knead a few times until it all comes together. If the dough seems pretty dry, you can add a tablespoon at a time of half & half or milk until it comes together nicely.
4. Roll dough into a rectangle about a 1/2″ thick.
5. Cut rectangle into 6 rectangles, then cut each one in half. If you want them even smaller (mini), then cut them in half again.
6. Put scones on the lined baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes for the mini scones, and 8-10 for the larger ones. They’re done when they’re just starting to brown. Move scones to a wire rack.
7. While the scones are cooling, whisk together your glaze ingredients.
8. When scones are cool, dip each one in the glaze, and then put back on the wire rack for the glaze to harden.
9. Enjoy!

– Jill

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I’m really lazy when it comes to breakfast. We generally have cereal or smoothies for breakfast. As I’ve been trying to cut out cereal because most of it is so bad for you, I’ve been looking for healthy, yet yummy alternatives.

I’ve found my go-to breakfast: Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies! Reinman ate one and said, “Wow! These are great! They just like banana bread.” Win, win, win!

I was going to just call them “Breakfast Cookies” but adding in the banana bread part seemed perfect.

These are super filling, super healthy, and very, very tasty. I added raisins and a handful of chocolate chips which gives these cookies their sweetness. This recipe is also very versatile, which means you can add in whatever you want. Different nuts, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, seeds, whatever you want!

Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies

recipe slightly adapted from The Pulp Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup nuts, chopped (I used walnuts)
• 1 cup mixed fruit, seeds, or other add-ins (I did 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup raisins)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix all the ingredients except the bananas, applesauce, and vanilla in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mash up your bananas. Then add applesauce and vanilla.
4. Mix your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients. If the mixture seems to dry, you could add in a little bit of milk or water to bring it together. I didn’t have to do that this time.
5. Place heaping tablespoon-fulls of dough onto the lined cookie sheet. Mold into circles and press down a bit. Bake 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
6. Enjoy!

– Jill

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a “week that was” post. I figured it’s time for an update with what we’ve been up to.

This weekend we were essentially kid free. One night my in-laws had them and the next day my mom did. We were pretty happy.

Made some muffins, but you guys already knew that…

And yesterday I made some cookies that I thought were a fail. I was too impatient to refrigerate them so they came out paper thin. I ate one. And then two. They were so good! Thin and crunchy. I think I’ll take a break and go eat one right now…

I made the kids a fort out of blankets and sheets. It lasted for 10 minutes. And in that 10 minutes I had to fix it twice. We won’t be having forts for awhile.

Last night we had dinner at a friends. She made us monkey bread. Pretty much the best thing ever.

The Lion King. One of my favorite Disney movies ever. I think the Baby thinks so too.

Hope you all are having a fabulous week!

– Jill

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Here’s a yummy, good-looking cookie for you all!

What I really like about this recipe is that you bake the cookie log, and then you freeze them and cut them into cookies whenever you want one. Or two..

These taste really good, like a sweet chocolate sugar cookie and look awesome on a cookie plate. I’ll definitely be making these again!

Bake and Slice Chocolate Swirls

recipe from Recipegirl.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 T coconut oil (or shortening)
• 3/4 cup butter, at room temp
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional– I did one of the cookie logs with the nuts.)
• powdered sugar mixed with red and green sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt your chocolate chips with the condensed milk and coconut oil.
3. In a large bowl, cream your butter, salt, vanilla extract, and brown sugar. Add in flour and mix well. If you need to add a few drops of milk to hold the dough together, go ahead and do that.
4. Divide the dough into thirds. Roll each one on a floured surface into a 10×6-inch rectangle. Spread chocolate filling on each rectangle and sprinkle with nuts, if desired.
5. Roll up dough starting with the long side. Transfer log to lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining doughs.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for a few minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle the tops of the cookie logs with the powdered sugar mix. You can either freeze the logs like this or cut into slices.
7. Enjoy!

– Jill

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I apparently have a thing for turning my favorite cake into everything and anything. See here and here.

These are no exception. These Hanky Panky Truffles do not disappoint. They are wonderfully chocolate, have a bit of a crunch from the heath bits, and are sweet because of the caramel and condensed milk drizzle.

These are decadent. One is enough. (Or two if you’re my husband.) His first question was, “Can I eat these?” Why, yes, please do. His response after eating a couple, “These were so good!” Awww, I love that kind of feedback!

Hanky Panky Truffles

a Reini Days original!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 cup caramel sauce
• 1/8 cup sweetened-condensed milk
• 1-8 oz bag of heath bits (found in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Pour your heavy cream in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then add your vanilla extract.
2. Put your chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl and add the heavy cream. Let sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the chocolate chips should be melted. If not, put back in saucepan on low for a few minutes until melted and mixed together.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread chocolate chip mixture on it. Refrigerate for an hour.
4. Mix caramel sauce and milk in a small bowl, and set aside.
5. Crush up heath bits to make them even smaller. I did this in a mini food processor. Put in a small bowl, and set aside.
6. Take the chocolate chip/heavy cream mixture out of the fridge. Using a teaspoon roll chocolate into a ball. Drizzle caramel/milk mixture on top and then roll in crushed heath bits. You will make a bit of a mess, but that’s okay! It’s fun! Repeat with the rest of the chocolate.
7. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
8. Enjoy!

I am entering this Hanky Panky Truffle recipe into Creative Holiday Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups. Go to either of their sites to check out the fun recipes!

– Jill

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