Peanut Butter Cookie Granola

Peanut Butter + Granola = :)

Dare I say more?

This recipe requires no commentary, no extra words tell you how amazing it is and persuading your to make it-I mean, you'd be crazy to see a recipe containing the words peanut butter and granola and not deciding to make it within 35.39 seconds 

Just Crazy.

So here's the low-down...

melt peanut butter and margarine

til margarine is completely liquified - then add honey and egg white

combine it with a bunch of other random stuff.. 

throw it on a pan and stash in your 250* oven for 45 minutes or so

and magically it will turn into this!

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP margarine

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 TBSP honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg white

1 tsp. baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 cup oats

1/2 cup fiber one cereal

1 1/2 cup crispy brown rice cereal

1 TBSP. chia seeds (opt.)

2 TBSP. flax seeds (opt.)

Preheat oven to 250*

Melt your peanut butter and margarine, then add all ingredients up to salt.

Mix well

Combine dry ingredients together

Pour wet-melted stuff over the dry and stir to coat all

Place on a cookie sheet and bake-stirring every 10 minutes for 40 minutes to an hour; until pieces are 'dry' but not overly brown

Swirled into a peanut butter smoothie? 

Heaven on Earth.

Peanut Butter Cookie Bread

It's Christmas time... know what that means?!

COOKIE EXCHANGE! 
Ok, well first and foremost it means time with the people you love celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST.

But for just a moment or two can we go back to that first one... mkay thanks :)

Soooo Cookie Exchanges...
Sugar cookies, so overdone. Chocolate chip-good, but get hit pretty hard at all other times of the year. Peanut Butter cookies, always a winner! But... we need to change things up a little bit... how? How you ask?

BREAD! Bread, Bread, Bread, Bread, BREAD!!!

My favorite thing (well.. for the moment-I have a short attention span so 'my favorite' changes quite often) ANYWAYS.... My favorite thing right now is mesh quick breads and desserts!

I <3 quick breads and making new flavors is probably the most fun any a weird health food obsessed college student can have!

So this recipe combines my love of peanut butter, cookies and bread to create... The Peanut Butter Cookie Bread

Honestly people, this taste like a peanut butter cookie - in a loaf form. Ah-May-Zing.

If you don't try this, the world will probably start raining tangelos, erupting with gophers and traffic lights will never-ever change to green. Do you want that to happen!? Me Neither-so go make this bread!

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour (I used half white whole wheat)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup equivalence sweetener (sugar, Stevia, etc.)

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together until everything is wet and combined - Do not overmix!
2. Pour into a greased and floured 8x5 loaf pan
3. Bake on 350* for 45-ish minutes... just keep a good eye on it and take out when the edges are a dark golden brown.
4. Enjoy. Enjoy in the morning as breakfast with coffee! Enjoy as a snack alongside a Peanut Buster Shake... too much peanut butter? Nah... Enjoy after a nice meal of homemade pizza. Just enjoy it! And the sooner the better :)

Lucky Spoon Bakery

Chances are either: 

a) you 

b) someone you know and love

or

c) someone you know and hate

has a gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity, celiac disease or chooses to eat a gluten free diet for other reasons. Before a few months ago, I had no idea that gluten-free food even existed, let alone was so popular. Many people (who are not gluten intolerant) have decided to go gluten free for weight loss as well (though I have a feeling many of the people that go gluten-free see a weight loss because they are no longer eating all those 'bad carbs' - i.e. white sugar and flour, just a hunch...)

Anyways-back to the story at hand... Many people are eating gluten-free these days, so there is now quite a market for gluten-free foods. This is where I come in! I was lucky enough to do a product review for Lucky Spoon Bakery - which is a gluten-free bakery that sells delicious cookies and muffins.

Let's look into their story - Everyone, these are the founders: Jim and Pam (Hi Jim! Hi Pam!) - Pam and Jim, this is everyone! They decided to challenge the mindset that gluten-free meant taste-free. Pam has always been an amazing baker, and when her husband was diagnosed gluten-intolerant, Pam decided to re-invent gluten-free. She serves up gluten-free food every bit as tasty as their fully gluten counterpart (in my humble opinion-her gluten-free products are BETTER than the same type of product with gluten! Crazy, I know!) Pam has some amazing ski-zills when it comes to creative reinvention of classic favorites! According to their website, in a little blurb written by Jim (the husband), he said: "In hindsight, maybe we should have named the company Lucky Husband Bakery" ...Awww! I agree with him though! These products are amazing-Pam aced it!

Let's get into a little bit more detail on these goodies, shall we?!

Cookies

-Chocolaty Chip Cookies

-Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

-Peanut Butter Chocolaty Chip Cookies

-Simply Sugar Cookies

...Now I'm no gluten-free food connoisseur but these little guys ROCKED! I couldn't tell that they were a 'gluten-free' food-nothing about them tasted off or different in the slightest... well actually-scratch that-they did taste different than other boughten cookies I have had before-they were AMAZING! They were soft, moist and full of flavor! They had a fresh, homemade taste to them. Pretty sure I could take them somewhere, say I just took them out of my oven and everyone would believe me! Yes-that is how good these cookies are! ...can anyone guess which were my favorite? Anyone? *hint-starts with pea-ends in nut! The Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies? How'd you guess?! The Peanut Butter cookies were the bomb-a-long-a-ding-dong! Soooo good! 

Sad I only have a few left :(

Really sad! ...my brother found them and finished them off! :O I 'spose I shouldn't be greedy-but really!? Did he have to eat the Perfectly Peanut Butter ones? 

DELICIOUS crumbled on top of ice cream! :D #happytummy

They also sell muffins!

Muffins

-Lemonlicious Muffins

-Utterly Almond Muffins

-Cinnamony Streusel Muffins

-Totally Maple Pecan Muffins

Can we say delicious? Yes! I can-and did! When I had these... the Cinnamony Streusel Muffins had a topping made of crunchy cinnamon and pecan pieces - if that doesn't say taste-bud enjoyment I don't know what does! And the fresh, bright flavors of Lemonlicious-makes me smile just thinking about it :) I can assure you-nomatter what flavor you try, you will be going back for more, and more, and more! 

~ BIG 3 - BIG 3 - BIG 3 ~

 Taste: Obviously 5/5! So delicious! I loved all the flavors I was given to sample!

Texture: I feel odd typing this, but: 5/5. Yes-5/5! For products that had been made in a bakery in Utah, then packaged and drug through more post offices than I care to count, tossed around in many postal vehicles, and finally thrown (yes, thrown-I saw you Mr. Post Man!) on my front step-they were soft! Very soft-not just, "Oh these are soft for store bought cookies" No! Like-soft soft! SOFT! (Does anyone else think the word 'soft' is starting to sound funny?) Anyways-you get the drift-their texture was amazing! I wish my 'straight-from-the-oven' homemade cookies could have that great of a texture!

Nutrition: Now I know, I know-these cookies and/or are not meant to be health foods! They are cookies and muffins after all-a treat. But-since I also do this in my reviews I don't plan on changing now! 

Here is the nutritional label for muffins (all flavors are very similar)

And here is the nutrition for the cookies:

As you can see-each treat has around 130 calories, while that is a little high in my opinion - let's just keep in mind they are treats! And look a little closer-they do have 1g of fiber and 1g of protein! The only thing that I'm not exactly happy with is the fact that both the cookies and muffins have around 15% of your daily allowance of saturated fat...but again-these are desserts and should be treated as such. Don't treat these as a healthy everyday food just because they are gluten-free. They are just like every other cookies (and most muffins) in the fact that they are fine in moderation-but *warning-it is HARD to have these in moderation, just too delicious! So overall nutrition: 4/5 (But don't get me wrong-their nutrition isn't bad, it is just the fact that they are treats and judged as such)

Overall: 4/5~Delicious flavor, soft & moist texture.

If you or someone you know follows a gluten-free diet-these are a perfect alternative! Heck-forget that-if you or someone you know has tastebuds and a working stomach-these are the perfect treat!

What are you still doing on the computer? Go find some of these for a gluten-free friend yourself! -you can find a retailer nearest you here

Tropical Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I was saying in my Tropical Traditions Product Review post that can be seen here... Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies-but sometimes they can get a little boring! (shh... don't tell my mother - aka the queen of chocolate chip cookies that I said that!) I decided to jazz up my mother's famous chocolate chip cookie recipe but giving it a little hint of the islands :) 

I don't know about you but I love summer-and everything that goes along with it! Sun, sand, surf (ok...I live in the Midwest and don't see much sand or surf-but it's still fun to dream!) I especially love summery foods... grilling, cold drinks, and sweet treats! This cookie recipe is what happens when Mr. Chocolate Chip Cookie decides to take a vacation to Honolulu!

Ingredients (Makes over 7 dozen cookies) :

-2 cups coconut oil

-1 cup white sugar

-2 cups brown sugar

-4 eggs

-2 tsp. baking soda

-1 1/2 tsp. salt

-2 tsp. vanilla

-1 cup chocolate chips

-1 cup coconut flakes (optional-but very delicious!)

-6 cups flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* 

2. Mix all ingredients (except flour and chocolate chips) in a large mixer

3. Slowly add flour and chips

4. Place teaspoon size dough balls onto a greased cookie sheet

5. Bake around 10 minutes (cookies should not be browned at all!)

Soft, chewy, moist, sun-kissed goodness!

Mmm! Just when I thought nothing could beat a chocolate chip cookie this little tropical treat comes along!

Be sure to sign up for my contest to win some Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil here!

Coconut Oil-Product Review & GIVEAWAY!!!

http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/

Who loves chocolate chip cookies? That's what I thought-everyone! Chocolate chip cookies are by far the most popular cookie in America... but don't we sometimes need a little bit of excitement to our chocolate chip cookie? Not to mention a health boost? 

Coconut Oil

I was given a sample jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try and review so I teamed up with coconut oil to jazz up my chocolate chip cookies and used their health benefits to my benefit! What health benefits you ask? Well- I can't make any healthy claims (FDA/FTC guidelines) I'll give you a few minutes to check it out yourself...done? Ok good! Now back to your regular programmed blog! Woah! With all those benefits I didn't feel one stitch of guilt devouring the cookies I made with my coconut oil (or the sweet potato hash I also made using coconut oil)

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is amazing! As soon as I opened the jar I was overcome with a delicious, strong coconut aroma... The oil melted amazingly well, but was nice and stiff before it hit the microwave (perfect if you're going to use it in its solid state). It had a great flavor both in the cookies and hash-a subtle, yet noticeable coconut accent. If you're looking for coconut oil-Tropical Traditions is the way to go! For more information-check out these links:

•       Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil page (http://www.

tropicaltraditions.com/virgin_
coconut_oil.htm)

•      Video on Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=4h6eycjf29M

•       Tropical Traditions Home Page (http://www.

tropicaltraditions.com/)

So I bet you're a little jealous right now that you don't have your own Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil aren't you? Well have no fear! I'm here to help! Tropical Traditions is generous enough to sponsor a product giveaway right here on my site! There are just two steps you must take to be entered for this giveaway!

1. Subscribe to Tropical Traditions newsletter right here -> Newsletter 

2. Become a follower of bakingblissful.blogspot.com

~If you'd additional entries to increase your odds of winning:

3. Leave a comment telling me what you'd make with your coconut oil

4. Pin one of my recipes to pinterest 

5. Become a follower of my twitter account ( @bakingblissful ) and/or pinterest account

-Just let me know in the comment box which of these you did!-

Contest ends August 7th! Good luck! *Be sure to subscribe to email under the comments section so I can notify you if you win!*

 Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

If you'd like to buy some of this amazing coconut oil for yourself check this out: 

Virgin Coconut Oil, Gold Label - 1 pint

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Win 1 quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil!

Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil?

You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses ofcoconut oil, and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

UPDATE* -the winner was post #57-AB Smith! Congrats-please email me your info so we can get you your prize!

Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies

Pop Quiz! Which is better: Nutella or Peanut butter?
Anyone?
Anyone?

Don't worry! I couldn't make this decision either! They are both so delicious in their own, beautiful way! So, in celebration of World Nutella Day, I set out to find a new Nutella recipe to try! I was babysitting and recruited the help of an ambitious 4 year old. When I asked her what we should make she said, "Peanut Butter!"
I kindly replied and told her we were going to make something with Nutella... She wouldn't take it...all she wanted was peanut butter! And then it hit me! Duh! Why not combine these two amazing taste-superpowers and create one cookie!

So we were off! Ready to tackle the task of combining a peanut butter cookie with Nutella. I knew we would have to have some sort of stabilizing ingredient, but was feeling like giving the cookie just a bit more nutritional boost and decided to use oatmeal instead of just flour. 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 pinch salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup Nutella

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*; Cream sugar, egg and peanut butter together.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and baking soda
3. Stir in oatmeal
4. Gently swirl in Nutella (this will create beautiful swirls of delicious Nutella throughout the cookie)
5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes
     -you should get about 24 cookies

Somebody liked the dough! :)

So warm, so gooey, so peanutbutternutella-y... 

First she wanted peanut butter on crackers....     Then Nutella on crackers.....        

But couldn't decide which was better-so like any genius, she mixed and had them together! Brilliant! :)

Nutritional Info: (1 cookie- 1/24 of recipe)