Whole Grain Peanut Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips

I had every intention of making tofu casserole today but when I opened the oven door, what should I find inside but these enormously moist and wonderfully delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

You just never know what the universe is going to throw at you. 

Happily, I have strong adaptive skills.

February is birthday month in this family and since none of us are big cake people, I thought these cookies might be a nice switch up.

I generally use olive oil in baking however for these cookies, I chose butter.  Yes, that's right folks, butter.  A good old fashion saturated fat.

The big message from the public health world and food manufacturers since the 1970s has been that saturated fat is the cause of heart disease.  Over the years, this lipid hypothesis has gradually been disproven and very few credible scientists currently hold this view.  Yet the demonization of saturated fat has been so effective and well entrenched in the minds of consumers, that many of us are still operating under the assumption that we shouldn’t be eating saturated fat /dietary cholesterol.

Scientists have moved away from the lipid hypothesis and have begun to turn their attention increasingly to inflammation as a cause of heart disease and the fact that refined carbohydrates appear to increase inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

For anyone interested in a primer on fats, Michael Pollan does a nice job summarizing the scientific literature in his readable book In Defense of Food. 

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/3 cup ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup palm sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 cup just nuts peanut butter, smooth or crunchy

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350 F.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together.   Add egg and vanilla and finally peanut butter beating to combine.

In a separate smaller bowl, combine spelt flour, ground flaxseed, baking soda and baking powder, mixing to combine.  Add chocolate chips.

Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing just until combine.

On a non-stick baking sheet, drop peanut butter chocolate cookies by tablespoon full, pressing down gently on each.

Bake cookies for approximately 10 minutes, or until they are just beginning to brown but still soft inside.

Allow cookies to cool before enjoying...