Easy chocolate chip cookies.

I wanted cookies tonight. I wasn't going to stop til I got them. But I have a headache and I'm exhausted. Being a full time student, full time nurse and mom will do it to you. I was out of baking soda. This was very much a tragedy. Til I realized that pancake mix has leavening in it and I started thinking.

I had recently made cinnamon rolls with my favorite pancake mix, as well as pumpkin bread. This was gonna be awesome!!!

I threw this together based on my chocolate chip cookie recipe, without the egg substitute and gluten free flour, and of course since those are double chocolate cookies, I made other adjustments. Also, I adjusted for what was already added to the pancake mix, and created a recipe.  I decided since I had just made apple butter recently, that I could eliminate an egg and add that.  It usually makes things so moist.

Holy canoli, I wasn't wrong!!

It surprised me that the first time I made them, they were awesome, and I don't want to change anything about it.

Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup palm oil shortening
2 tsp bourbon vanilla
1 egg
2 tbs apple butter
2 cups Immaculate Baking Co. Organic Pancake & Waffle Mix
1 cup whole rolled oats
1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chunks

Cream brown sugar and palm oil. Add egg, vanilla and apple butter. Continue to blend with hand held or standing mixer. Add pancake mix and oats. Blend on low til well combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Fold in chocolate chunks.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown on edges.

Enjoy Life adventures.

I woke up a few days ago to a box of Enjoy Life cookies at my door. All pretty in their new packaging. Along with a link to their new recipes page.


Needless to say, we were excited.
We decided we'd make the frozen s'more cookie sandwiches from the site the next day.

As soon as I got home from work, Anth put on his apron and got ready to work.

 He began by spreading out the cookies for me. He was very excited to count out 12 on his own.





Anth added the chocolate chips to the ice cream, and I started spreading the coconut ice cream on the cookies to make sandwiches. We put them on a cookie sheet to freeze and even made 2 sandwiches with the double chocolate cookies (Anth's favorite kind).

Anth ate the rest of the ice cream

Then we waited over night while they froze.














The next day we used a double boiler to melt chocolate chips and palm oil, then dipped half of each sandwich in. They had to freeze for one more hour to set.

Time to enjoy!!

For those of you who don't know Enjoy Life, they are a company who makes foods that are free of the 8 most common allergens. They make these foods for people like Anth and others with multiple food allergies, so they can enjoy eating the foods you and I take for granted. Their foods are all free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, gluten, dairy, soy, fish and shellfish.

This dessert, as I made it, is also free of those 8 allergens.

****Of note, the cookies pictured above come in flavors such as double chocolate, chocolate chip, honey graham and sugar crisp. The only one of them that is certified vegan is the sugar crisp. The others are not because of the sugar they contain.


The recipe from the Enjoy Life website is linked above. Mine is below, with a few changes that I made, based on our dietary needs.














S'more Ice Cream Sandwiches
(makes 6 sandwiches)

Sandwich Ingredients
1 pint vanilla bean So Delicious Coconut Milk ice cream, softened
4 T Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips
12 Enjoy Life Vanilla Honey Graham Crunchy Cookies

Chocolate Coating Ingredients
¼ C Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips
2 t Spectrum Sustainable Palm Oil Shortening


Directions:
1. Mix the Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips in with the softened coconut milk ice cream.
2. Scoop about ¼ C onto 6 of the Enjoy Life Vanilla Honey Graham Crunchy Cookies.
3. Top with another cookie.
4. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place in the freezer overnight.


The following day:
1. Melt the ¼ C Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Chips with the 2 t palm oil.
2. Remove the cookie sandwiches from the freezer and dip about half into the chocolate.
3. Place on parchment lined baking sheet in freezer
4. Freeze until relatively firm, about another hour or so, and then cover until ready to eat.

 

Impromptu breakfast cookies.

I woke up this morning inspired to feed my kids something different for breakfast.... I had half a pureed pumpkin, some raw local honey I was itching to use, some farm fresh eggs and some homemade peanut butter. I decided I was going to make "cookies" to guarantee they'd eat them. To be honest, with my kids, it's all in the presentation. I won this time :)

I used about half the pumpkin, some hemp protein, a couple pieces vegan almond dark chocolate (80% cacao) chopped in the food processor and shaved coconut. I also didn't want to use traditional flour so I opted for a tablespoon or so of coconut flour to hold it all together and about a handful of gluten free oats. I added a bit of baking powder, only because I had no baking soda. I wasn't making this gluten free on purpose, it just turned out that way :)

I am actually in disbelief. They came out amazingly, and I just made it up as I went along. And, Anth and Delina each ate 4 of them with a pile of fresh local raspberries!! 

(Best part: There was a ton of pumpkin in them and my kids didn't even know. Hidden veggie score!)



Here's the recipe

1. 1/2 cup raw peanut butter (or sunbutter)
2. 3/4 cup pureed roasted pumpkin
3. 1/3 cup raw honey
4. 1 tsp baking powder
5. 2 fresh eggs
6. 2 tbs coconut flour
7. 1/2 cup hemp protein powder (I used this one)
8. 1 tbs ground cinnamon
9. 2 oz your favorite dark chocolate (chopped finely--in the food processor works best for me)
10. 1 cup gluten free oats
11. 1 cup unsweetened shaved coconut

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease 2 cookie sheets (I use coconut oil). Combine all but last 3 ingredients and mix with electric mixer. Once combined, fold in last 3. Place on cookie sheets by the tablespoon. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Will still be soft when they are finished. For a crunchier cookie, Bake for another 2 minutes. 
Makes 2 dozen.

Enjoy.