During my son’s golf club competitions, the lovely manager’s wife , RIP, always brings snacks for the the young players, and a fave is a particular cookie she’s always got on hand.

We found out they were from a supermarket, and when we checked them out, there were one too many questionable ingredients on the list for my liking. And because cookies are so easy to whip up, I suggested we try to recreate them. Compare the ingredient list below with the one in my son’s recipe!

So while I’m totally fine with store-bought sweets like this every now and then, here are my issues with the above list.

– given the makers of Roundup (Monsanto) have just been fined 10 billion to settle cancer suits and who spray a crap tonne of Roundup on our wheat crops right before harvest, I’m not cool about the kids eating too much non-ogranic wheat flour.

– sugar appears 4 times in the list (including the white compound chocolate) which equals a lot!
– I don’t want detergent-like food additives in my kids food thanks aka, emulsifier.
– Palm Fat (oil) has an extremely harmful impact on the environment. Deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in order to extract the oil from the fruit is destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhino  : (
– Milk Solids –  some experts believe they contain oxidized, or damaged, forms of fat and cholesterol which are  linked to hardening of the arteries. I’d rather not risk it myself.
-Preservative 220 (sulphur dioxide) – not great for people with asthma, sinus or headaches.

Now, cookies are dead easy to whip up, so I suggested we try to recreate them and my teen son insisted he take over the role of cookie creator, then promptly researched, experimented, tweaked, and has since baked around seven batches of different varieties of cookies. All of them delicious, but my favourite being these Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, because, well, #peanutbutter

These are sweeter than the biscuits or cookies I would make, but despite numerous requests that he uses at least a quarter cup less sugar, my son refuses to co-operate. If I were making them, I’d reduce the sugar by at least 1/4 cup, but I’m not kicking up a stink because at least they’re home-made with ingredients which the body recognises and can process, and at the end of the day, his cookies provides us with so much joy and deliciousness (plus fodder for the lunchboxes which I didn’t have to make!) and he just loves making them for us! Update: I’ve since made this recipe myself with less sugar and everyone loves them so go ahead and try that out.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

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Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Course Dessert

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 15

Author Orlando Janschek

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cup unbleached plain flour or your choice of preferred flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar If you are transitioning from store bought cookies you may need to increase by another 1/4 cup
• 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar or you can use raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
• Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper
• Combine butter, sugars, peanut butter and salt and beat with electric mixer until smooth
• Add the egg and whisk until incorporated
• Mix flour and baking soda together in small bowl, then fold into wet mixture until just combined
• Add choc chips and gently fold through the mixture
• Using an ice cream scooper drop rounded balls of mixture onto the baking trays, a few centimetres apart as they spread, and press down slightly
• Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly golden, turning baking trays at halfway mark
• When ready, leave to cool completely on baking trays
• Store for up to a week in airtight container

Notes

Feel free to reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup, that's what I would do if I were baking them! 

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other delicious recipes created or inspired by my son are Chocolate Choc Chip Cookies and Rustic Banana, Blueberry and Coconut Cake and Orange and Poppyseed Bars.

The kids were raving about these cookies when they discovered them in their lunchboxes.

They have just the right amount of delicious spices and the texture is what’s getting us most excited, it’s a gorgeous crispy texture on the outside with a bit of chewiness on the inside. They also make a perfect afternoon snack with a lovely cuppa.

Cookies and biscuits are some of my favourite healthy treats to create (and eat!), my Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes recipe ebook is proof of this with family faves like Coconut Rough Cookies, Muesli Biscuits, and Strawberry Chia Jam Drops, to name a few.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Spelt flour
Bicarb of soda
Sea salt
Vanilla powder
Ground ginger
Cinnamon powder
Nutmeg powder
Macadamia Oil

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Crispy Ginger Spice Cookies

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour I used spelt flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
• 1/2 cup sugar use white sugar for a harder, crispier cookie
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla powder
• 1-2 teaspoons ground ginger 2 teaspoons is quite strong, but we like it like that, I would suggest trialling 1 teaspoon if this is your first batch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice or ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• 3-4 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons mild flavoured oil I used macadamia oil, I've also used mild EVOO

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.
• Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper
• Combine flour, bicarb soda, salt, sugar, spices in a bowl.
• Stir in the remaining ingredients.
• Roll a tablespoon of the dough into balls, place on the prepared baking sheet and flatten. Make sure they are 2- inches apart as they spread substantially.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the tray for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in a glass container

Notes

These cookies stay crispy on the outside for the first couple days but soften thereafter but are still super delicious! But I choose not to double batch them so we get more crispy-ness leverage.

If you know someone who could use some lunch box inspo, please share this recipe with them!

And please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek

Bren x

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