Chocolate peanut butter cookies

Have you ever taken a bite of a just-baked treat and felt a surge of culinary ecstasy at the realization that you hit it out of the park? I experienced that with these cookies. I got the recipe from my friend Brett at work, and with two eggs and a stick and a half of butter, I never expected it to veganize as well as it did. Using two different egg substitutes seemed to help, and I was even able to reduce the margarine by 1/3. These cookies are a chocolate-and-peanut-butter lover’s dream, and suffice it to say they have a much lower guilt factor than the originals.

1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 Ener-G egg
1T ground flaxseed + 3T warm water
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter and/or chocolate chips



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the Earth Balance, sugar, and peanut butter until light and creamy. A stand mixer is easiest, but a hand mixer would do just fine too.



Add the Ener-G egg, followed by the flax egg, blending well after each addition. Or you can do what I did, and just mix both together and add half at a time.



Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in batches, blending lightly on low after each addition. After adding the last of the dry mixture, blend just until combined.



Gently stir in the chips by hand. I used the swirled peanut-butter-and-chocolate chips, but you can use all peanut butter chips, all chocolate chips, or a mixture of the two if you want, or if that’s what you have. I highly recommend getting both flavors in there, though.



Talk about a delicious dough. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased (or parchment papered, or Silpatted) baking sheet.



Bake for 10 minutes. They will seem underdone when you take them out, but don’t be fooled! Cool them on the baking sheet for a good 3-4 minutes...



...then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



These cookies are soft and almost brownie-like in texture, with just a slight chew. The dense peanut butter merges with the tender margarine to create the ideal backdrop for the deep chocolate flavor of the cocoa. The sugar collides with the peanut butter’s saltiness in pefect complement, and the chips take it over the top. I can’t say enough about these things.



And if you were wondering, they got a resounding thumbs up from the people who tasted the originals. In short, a definite home run.



Yield: 2 dozen cookies. Per cookie: 143 calories, 8g fat (3g sat), 16g carbs, 1g fiber, 3g protein.

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