It's been a rough week, folks. Ahmadenijad seems likely to win re-election in Iran, thereby furthering his tyranny over the women of that country; the Letterman/Palin feud drags on, with insults to women and basic intelligence flying on both sides; more and more abortion clinics are receiving threats in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder; and some 80-year-old anti-semitic nut job decided to shoot up the National Holocaust Museum in DC, resulting in the death of security guard, Steven Tyrone Johns.
It's somewhat tempting to turn this post into a "but forget your worries and indulge in these cookies!" piece of drivel, but you're smarter than that, and so am I. This is serious shit, here, folks. So don't think that by giving you a cookie recipe I'm trying to sugar coat anything (pun intended). Oppression, tyranny, misogyny, violence, anti-semitism, and murder. Really, no amount of baked goods can make me feel better about any of this. But, this week has also not been without its good points: Chaz (formerly Chastity) Bono has decided to transition from female to male and so far the media's being relatively cool about it; Tel Aviv hosted Israel's Gay Pride Parade ; and, evidently, today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. So life ain't all bad.
I bring all of this up because these are the things that have been weighing heavily on my mind all week. When I came home this evening and read the news about the election in Iran, it was the proverbial straw, and I was the brokeback camel. So, in an effort to refocus myself and feel a little less horrible about the world, I baked cookies. Some people write, others paint or write music; I bake. And, silly as it sounds, it helped. So, no more politics (at least, not in this post ;); from here on, I will only talk about cookies. But as you read, I hope you'll seriously consider doing whatever it is you do to rejuvenate yourself and those around you; on news weeks like this, it's crucial.
And now, without further doldrums or ado:
FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES!
It's somewhat tempting to turn this post into a "but forget your worries and indulge in these cookies!" piece of drivel, but you're smarter than that, and so am I. This is serious shit, here, folks. So don't think that by giving you a cookie recipe I'm trying to sugar coat anything (pun intended). Oppression, tyranny, misogyny, violence, anti-semitism, and murder. Really, no amount of baked goods can make me feel better about any of this. But, this week has also not been without its good points: Chaz (formerly Chastity) Bono has decided to transition from female to male and so far the media's being relatively cool about it; Tel Aviv hosted Israel's Gay Pride Parade ; and, evidently, today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. So life ain't all bad.
I bring all of this up because these are the things that have been weighing heavily on my mind all week. When I came home this evening and read the news about the election in Iran, it was the proverbial straw, and I was the brokeback camel. So, in an effort to refocus myself and feel a little less horrible about the world, I baked cookies. Some people write, others paint or write music; I bake. And, silly as it sounds, it helped. So, no more politics (at least, not in this post ;); from here on, I will only talk about cookies. But as you read, I hope you'll seriously consider doing whatever it is you do to rejuvenate yourself and those around you; on news weeks like this, it's crucial.
And now, without further doldrums or ado:
FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES!
[Again, taken from The Big Book of Diabetic Desserts, page 193]
Back before I was diabetic, one of my all-time favorite rainy-day recipes was an incredibly simple one: 1 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 egg. Mix together, spoon onto baking sheet, bake at 350 for 10 minutes. And that was it. No fuss, you generally had all of the ingredients right in the kitchen, and the cookies came out delicious every time.
Well, this recipe is remarkably similar, and every bit as easy. It's also extremely low-sugar as written, and you can even reduce the sugar amounts further by using reduced-sugar peanut butter and cutting the brown-sugar with half Splenda Brown Sugar Blend.
Now, of course, I never have brown sugar in my kitchen, so I used ALL Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, which probably wasn't the best idea. The cookies are VERY sweet. Really tasty, but, seriously y'all, crazy sweet. I had to use the whole amount of SBSB in order to get the right consistency in the batter, but next time, I'll definitely use at least half regular brown sugar.
I tried baking them two different ways: one batch was just rolled up and plopped onto the baking sheet while the second batch was smooshed with a fork before baking. Personally, I vastly prefer the latter method, but you can do it whichever way you prefer.
Either way, really great recipe: simple, classic, low-sugar, and delicious. Just what I needed to end this crappy week on a sweet note. If you give 'em a try, let me know how they turn out.
Happy baking, y'all!
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