Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (vegan)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Yesterday we drove up to Providence for the day to see my sister in a play called, "Talk Radio". I was so glad we were able to go because originally we thought we might be in Costa Rica for this vacation. We had a slow start to the morning because Danny wasn't feeling great, but we finally left after lunch. 

 It took us awhile to get up there because of the lovely 95 through Connecticut (where are all those people going??) but we made it and my sister was glad to see us. Before we left I decided I wanted to make her a treat. The night before I had gone to dinner in the city with 2 of my girl friends. My friend Meg gifted me the cutest heart cookie cutters for Valentine's Day and I was excited to use them. 

I wanted to make something quick and easy and OF COURSE tasty so I opened Eat, Drink & Be Vegan and flipped through the cookies. After making the double chocolate chunk cookies and loving them I knew this cookbook wouldn't lead me in the wrong direction. 


I went with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. YUM.
I changed it a little bit to use less oil and more applesauce. 


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan


Ingredients
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup peanut butter


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine sugar and salt. Mix together. Add in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Stir well. In a separate bowl combine maple syrup, agave nectar, vanilla, applesauce and oil until well mixed. Add wet mixture to dry and stir until well combined. (If it seems too dry add a bit more applesauce.) Do not over mix. Add chocolate chips. Start to add peanut butter to mixture. Swirl it around in the batter. 

Try not to eat all of it. 

Tempting, I know. Good thing Danny didn't feel well. Chris never would have got the cookies.

If you aren't making shapes then spoon rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet and cook for 11 minutes. 

If you are making shapes, spray a cutting board with a non stick spray and roll out the batter.

I heart you.

yum.

Cook for 11 minutes and let sit on pan for one minute. Then transfer to a cooling rack. 

After trying one, I didn't want to share, but I thought my sister could use some of these (and so could YOU!) so I only kept a couple for myself. (Because I have a freezer full of muffins, cookies, brownies and baked goods that are begging to be eaten...)

She loved them and I was happy to make her happy. She was fantastic in her play. Great job Chris! :) We also couldn't leave Providence before taking Chris to Whole Foods where I bought everything didn't buy that much. I swear I didn't have anyone whispering the words "budget, budget, budget" in my ear.

Happy Valentine's Day to you. I hope you get to spend your day with the people you love and make you happy. We are cooking and watching a movie here for Valentine's Day number 2, married and Valentine's Day number 7 together. The weather man here say's, "It's snuggle" weather (true story), so I hope you get to do that!