Amazing almond butter chocolate chip cookies…no flour needed!

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it was too good to be true. How can you make a delicious cookie with no flour and no butter? The answer is…almond butter. I made these for a birthday for a friend at work who does not eat flour. The best part was they were so simple to make!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Clean Eating Magazine, March/April 2010

(Makes 24 Cookies)

1 cup unsalted almond butter, stirred well
3/4 cup Sucanat (I don’t know what this is, so I used regular sugar!)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater), broken into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, stir together the first five ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes ( I let mine cool overnight because they were still really soft and I didn’t want to break them.)

Nutrients per cookie: Calories: 110, Total Fat: 8g, Sat. Fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 10g, Fiber: 1g, Sugars: 3g, Protein: 2g, Sodium: 55mg, Cholesterol: 10mg

A burst of creativity

I taught myself how to knit from a book when I was maybe about 10 or 11 years old. Since then, I have actually become pretty advanced, though I haven’t seemed to have as much time to devote to it like I used to. In the past I have made sweaters, bags, scarves - you name it. I even knitted a skirt for myself (which I never wore...it was a little too small! :(.)

The other day I had a sudden urge to knit, so it was lucky for me that I had an in-progress project just sitting there waiting for me. I think the last row I knit on this one was on the plane to Jamaica in January and I haven’t touched it since. The pattern is from Moda Dea and it is a one-piece strip that you twist and sew together to create this little wrap. I started it because I wanted something easy and mindless at the time. You can wear it as shown or with the twist in back. I am knitting it in hot pink! Well, the color is actually called Aurora Pink...it is the middle shade in the photo below.

Moda Dea Wrap Sweater

Classic Elite Ariosa in Aurora Pink

In addition to the wrap project, I started searching online for decorative things I could make for the house. I found this pattern for a crocheted "urn" on the Vogue Knitting website. It comes from their “hipper” knitting magazine, the now defunct (I think) Knit1. I used to subscribe to this magazine, so I searched my old issues and was so excited when I found it on my bookshelf, because I would have had to pay for the pattern online.

This looks like a simple project that will bring my crochet skills out of submission. I hope. I’ll post some pictures when I finish it, and of course, my hot pink sweater. ;)

Last week’s healthy challenge results

Well, I started off so strong with the first week or two of blogging, and then dropped off. Whoops! Time to get back to work! I haven’t had any specific topics come to mind in the past few days.

The last time I posted, I was mortified by the fact that I had such an unhealthy weekend, and was feeling a little, um, puffy. So last week I took counteractive measures by eating healthy every day with no desserts, lots of water, and exercise. Lo and behold, come week end I was down by about 3 pounds! It just goes to show what I would look like if I ate like that all of the time.

This week started off rough since I met two of my friends at Maxie’s Southern Comfort last night—a place I actually try and stay away from because I always overeat. And I did—again! But it was a treat and I never get to see them, so I didn’t feel that bad. Back on the bandwagon today.