Mindy Carlson

On my quest to get more protein into the kids, I made some really wonderful Peanut Butter Protein Cookies.

1 cup peanut butter
1 large egg
1 egg white
2 T apple sauce
1 c old fashioned oats (I used Quaker)
1/2 c baking stevia or truvia baking blend (or 1 cup of sugar or sweetener that measures like sugar)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (which I didn’t use – I used 2 tsp ground chia seeds and 2 T flour)

Preheat oven at 350F. Heat the peanut better in the microwave for 30 seconds to make it easier to mix then Mix first 4 ingredients together. Add the oats, stevia, baking soda, salt, and protein power and blend thoroughly. Then you can fold in about 2 T of mini chocolate chips. Use a greased pan or use parchment paper on a baking sheet. Roll into balls and flatten with a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

I forgot the baking soda – I know! A rookie move! – but they turned out wonderfully anyway. I suspect the chia seeds (which are rich in a complete protein that is usually only found in animal sources) helped keep the cookies springy and moist.

I did use the chocolate chips. Partially because I had them on hand, but also partially because if the kids are even the least bit suspicious about a new food chocolate usually helps tip the scales in favor of liking the food.

I tried them. They are delicious. I love them. Loaded with protein, but the peanut butter isn’t overwhelming. It’s lightly sweet and you can barely taste the chocolate. The chia seeds have no flavor at all. You can actually put them in anything and increase the protein value of the food by quite a bit. They are actually used in vegan baking to replace eggs – 3T of water to 1T of chia seeds for 1 egg.

I predict the kids are going to whip right through them. I also predict that these are going to get made a lot and sent to school as the mid-day snack or be had in the car for the afternoon snack. Or maybe even for breakfast?

P.S.  This makes 32 cookies at 4.7 g of protein each and only 0.2 g of sugar.