When I first saw this recipe I thought of my sister. She and her husband have avoided gluten for several years for various reasons. Recently they are both finding that perhaps they can have more gluten if they limit or eliminate dairy. These cookies would be perfect for them regardless of which they are trying to limit or eliminate. I emailed the recipe to my sister the day I saw it. This week I finally decided to try it myself.

The girls are having their birthday party this Friday. We have always done one party for the two of them since Brinley’s, our youngest, first birthday. We did separate parties that year, so Brinley could have her special 1 year celebration. Since then, because Whitley’s birthday is June 15th and Brinley’s is July 25th, the girls share their party in between. We do celebrate as a family with each girl on their actual birthdays. But, their party with extended family and friends is shared. This year their party is on July 10th, and the girls are celebrating turning 8 and 6. We are planning to decorate cookies, have cake and ice cream, make s’mores and then the girls are having their first sleep over.

They are SO excited and I thought this would be the perfect time to try this peanut butter cookie recipe so that we could have a variety of cookies for people to decorate. It would also be an easy way for me to make sure that I have treats that everyone can eat at the party. In an effort to keep from having a ton of stuff to do on the day of the party I have been baking some of the cookies each day. I started with the peanut butter cookies yesterday. That way, if I didn’t like them, I would have the chance to figure out something different, and if I did like them I would have one thing out of the way. The good news is that the cookies are delicious, so I don’t have to figure out something different. The bad news is the cookies are delicious, so I will be needing to make another batch tomorrow since we don’t have enough left for the party after having some with our tea yesterday and Daddy having some for his evening snack after that.

The girls and I have started having “High Tea” at 3:00 each day. This allows us to get our read aloud time in, we are currently reading The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis, without anyone getting frustrated or upset about it. I have also been able to incorporate a little bit of Bible Study with our time. Monday we talked about Proverbs 31 to explain our new shirts from Aunt Dally’s company, More Than Rubies Designs. Yesterday and today we learned from Brinley’s Sunday School lesson about prayer. Her Sunday School teacher is the best Sunday School teacher in the world!! Mrs. Janie has sent Brinley’s Sunday School lessons to us every single week since Sunday School has shut down because of this pandemic! It has been a truly sweet time. I am SO grateful for these moments with my girls and I am working to treasure each one and “making the most of the time for the days are evil”. I want to use every opportunity I can get to build my daughters’ faith before they head back to school in August!! So, tonight I want to share this new, simple and amazing recipe with you. It may not be a simple supper, but it’s still a simple recipe.

Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe:

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup + 1/4 cup Sugar (separated)

1 large Egg

Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cookie Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with racks in the two center positions.
2. Place peanut butter, 1 cup of the sugar, and the egg in food processor (the original recipe used an electric mixer, but mine is a little bit of a hassle to get out, so I used my food processor)
3. Process until well mixed and a large ball of dough forms. It may still appear a little crumbly, but should stick together easily if you press on it.
4. Use a small cookie scoop and scoop the dough into balls (you should end up with 20-24 cookies)
5. Roll each ball in the additional 1/4 cup sugar
6. Place each ball on ungreased cookie sheets
7. Dip fork into sugar and gently press each ball, repeat on each ball in the opposite direction to create hash marks on each cookie
8. Place each cookie sheet on it’s own rack in the oven and bake for 7 minutes
9. Switch the baking sheets to the opposite shelf in the oven and bake for an additional 7 minutes
10. Take out and allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets
11. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack to finish cooling
12. Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator

I hope this simple recipe is a wonderful, sweet dessert to add at the end of one of your simple suppers, like Smothered Pork Chops or Beef Fried Rice! If you try it and your family loves it, be sure to comment below and tell us how it went and how long your cookies lasted!