rambles and gluten free vegan chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

I am going to post some of the pictures from our rambles this weekend because I so enjoyed the colors.  

We were at the North Carolina Arboretum and it is a beautiful place.

I really enjoyed our rambles there.

This was outside our trailer this morning.

And this is what I have been doing in the mornings.  Writing letters.  Drinking tea.  Reading.  Cleaning.  It is not a bad way to spend the morning.

My Beloved and I worked on his course work last night.  He was bouncing ideas off of me and using my drafting skills.  It was fun to work together.  And our plumbing is fixed.  There is a fabulous North Carolina mobile RV repair person, Joey Fountain.  If you ever need somebody in the Asheville area, he is the person to call.

But I have been wanting cookies.  We got the most fabulous peanut butter from the grocery store we found here so I decided to use it for a cookie.  Both  my Beloved and myself had to restrain ourselves from eating all of these at one sitting!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies (vegan and gluten free)

1/2 cup oil (I used olive, it was what I had)

1/2 cup peanut butter (old fashioned, stirred)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup brown sugar or 3/4 cup white sugar and 2 tablespoons molasses (the darker the molasses, the more you will taste it)

50 grams almond or amaranth flour

50 grams teff flour

50 grams sorghum flour

65 grams arrowroot flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips (make sure gluten free and vegan)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix the oil and peanut butter together.  Add the sugar and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add all the flours, soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  The dough my be crumbly.  Add the chocolate chips.

See.  Crumbly dough.

Take a teaspoon and smash it into a ball.  Place on a baking sheet covered with a silpat or parchament paper.  Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.  Let cool for ten minutes before removing from the baking sheet.  

These will not spread, so if you want flat cookies, you are going to need to take a glass and use the bottom to press them down.  I would dreg the bottom of the glass in sugar so the cookies do not stick.

My suggestion is to hide them if you do not wish to eat them right away!

Note:  I had someone come back to me who said that this made them want to go to the arboretum.  She has a lovely list of arboretums to go if you are ever interested:  55 Arboretums Everyone Should Put On Their Bucketlist.  I think may be missing some nice ones but this is a very good starting place.