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.

And they couldn’t get enough of them in their lunch boxes so lucky the recipe makes a huge batch!

You can easily make your own jam, or I used St Dalfour’s Strawberry Fruit Spread which has only strawberries (55%), grape juice concentrate, fruit pectin and lemon juice, while many of other jams or fruit spreads on the market contain additives, colours and other nasties.

I’ve made these biscuits in cooking lessons with kids  and they have absolutely loved making them, putting in their finger print and filling the hole up with jam! So recruit your kids to give a hand when making these delightful little morsels of joy!

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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!

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:

Rolled oats
Rapadura or coconut sugar or brown rice syrup
Vanilla powder
Spelt flour
Desiccated coconut or almond meal
Baking powder

Print

Jam Drops

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 125 grams softened butter
• 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar or brown rice syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup spelt flour wholemeal or white
• 1 cup desiccated coconut or almond meal
• 1 teaspoon baking powderJam or fruit spread

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
• Grease and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
• Process oats in a food processor until it's a fine flour
• Cream butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy (approx 3-5 minutes), add egg, beat until just combined.
• Add oat flour, spelt flour, desiccated coconut (or almond meal), baking powder and stir until just combined. Pop dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Drop tablespoons of cookie dough into your hand and roll into a ball, then place onto the baking sheet around 4cm apart. With clean hands, use your pointer finger or thumb to gently make a hole in the middle of each cookie.
• Using a teaspoon, spoon a small amount of jam into each hole, pop into the oven and bake for around 10 - 15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.
• Allow them to cool and set on the trays then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes

Add in an extra egg if your mixture is too dry.

I popped the jam drops into the kids lunch boxes as a healthy treat along with their favourite mini-quiche recipe, I was guaranteed lunch would be eaten that day!

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

You might also like these Ginger Cardamon Molasses Cookie Hearts or Chai Date and Sesame Biscuits.