Sweet Tooth

I have mentioned before that I have been eliminating sugar, dairy, meat and processed foods from my kitchen, which is not to say that I am giving up on them all the time, just most of the time. I have done this for a few reason, but mainly because I simply wasn't feeling well and I couldn't figure out why. To get to the bottom of the problem I started eliminating some things from my diet and realized that I was feeling better. The biggest hurdle for me is that I like a little sweet now and then and even though currently the end of summer fruits satisfy my sweet tooth, I am looking ahead to the fall and winter when these are not optimal options.

While I know everyone gave GP a lot of crap for her book, It's All Good, I prefer to find out for myself how ridiculous or not something is and it's a good thing I did. I love this book. It addresses all of my needs (tasty, fresh, non-processed and easy to find products) and I can only surmise that those who were panning the book had not tried any of the recipes. I will be sharing some of my favorite dishes over the next few months from the book and I really think you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy and flavorful most of these recipes are to prepare. Anyway, as I was saying I need some sweets, but don't want the sugar, butter and waistline, so I turned to the back of GP's book and found the Almond Butter Cookies with Maldon Sea Salt, which sounded like the perfect solution (also I had everything in the house to make these). Gluten free, vegan and frankly pretty darn tasty these cookies make the afternoon just a little bit better.

Get your arm ready. It's a mixing fiesta.

Spoonfuls of yum.

You can make them more perfect and round (and thinner for a crispy cookie),
but I like them a little uneven.

Note: I am way more into cake like cookies then crispy so I tend to make my cookies a little thicker to get that almond butter gooey texture. Both ways are fantastic though, just depends on your likes.

Almond Butter Cookies with Maldon Sea Salt

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (if the flour doesn't include xanthan gum, add 3/4 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup natural almond butter
1 cup good-quality maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, fine sea salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Thoroughly combine the wet and dry ingredients. Using 2 spoons, form the cookies into small balls (each about 1 generous tablespoon) and space them 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. Wet your fingertips and press down on each cookie, smoothing the edges so each is a nice little disk. Sprinkle each cookie with just a bit of the Maldon salt.

Bake until the air is fragrant and the cookies are just firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Let them cool on a rack before serving.

Makes about 2 dozen

Fresh out of the oven. They smell so good.