Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies (sugar-free)
Apart from potatoes, two of my Irishman’s favourite foods are chocolate and peanut butter. Needless to say, these cookies are one of his all time favourite sweet treats to have with a hot cup of tea.
If you’re not worried about your blood sugar, they’re even better used to make ice cream sandwiches, like in the photo above. But I’m trying to forget this little piece of wisdom. I should also note they’re super rich and one of the few baked goods that I find tastes better if you allow them to cool to room temperature before eating.
makes about 6
takes: 20 minutes
200g (7oz) smooth peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon pure stevia powder*
1 egg
50g (2oz) dark chocolate
sea salt flakes
1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Line a cookie tray with baking paper
2. In a medium bowl, stir together peanut butter, stevia and baking powder.
3. Stir in egg to form a wet dough. Break chocolate into chunks and add to the dough.
4. Use a tablespoon to form 6 balls and place on your prepared tray. Press on cookies to flatten slightly until they’re about 1cm (1/3in) high. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. I like to manually redistribute the chocolate chunks to make sure each cookie has enough.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on the tray.
Variations
* important note about stevia! – there are 4 types of stevia:
1. Pure Stevia Powder – looks like icing (powdered / confectioners) sugar. It’s expensive but a tiny amount goes a long long way. We’re talking 1/4 teaspoon to sweeten a whole cake. This is what I use.
2. Granular Stevia (like Natvia or Truvia) – looks like regular white sugar. It’s a blend of erythritol and stevia. Usually 1/4 teaspoon = 4-6 tablespoons granular stevia.
3. Fresh or Dried Stevia Leaves – from a real stevia plant! I haven’t baked with them but they will behave similar to the pure stevia powder. Just add to taste.
4. Liquid stevia – I haven’t used this. If you want to use it just add to taste.
sugar-lovers / budget / no stevia – use my original recipe to make 12 cookies – 250g (9oz) smooth peanut butter, 200g (7oz) brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 egg, 100g (3.5oz) chocolate. Bake 180C (350F) for 10 minutes (all the extra sugar binds up moisture so less baking is needed. It also provides bulk so you get more cookies!).
peanut-free – replace peanut butter with almond, cashew, brazil nut or other nut butter.
nut-free – sunflower seed butter ‘sunbutter’ instead of the peanut butter.
crunchy – use crunchy peanut butter if you prefer.
Shelf Life / Storage
Best on the day of baking. Can be kept for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge. Still edible for a few weeks in the fridge but will soften over time. Keeps for months in the freezer.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
peanut butter, stevia, baking powder, chocolate – pantry.
egg – will keep in the fridge for about a month. Or use for another meal.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
I just made these. I added sugar free chocolate chips and while I loved them, they were crumbly for some reason. What about adding almond flour? Any other tips? Thank you as always!
2 things could cause crumbliness Rachel…
1. Egg size – if the egg is too small it won’t bind. I use extra large eggs here which are 60g (2.1oz).
2. Peanut Butter consistency – if the oil has separated from the peanut butter you will get too much of the dry peanut solids and not enough oil which can also cause the crumbliness. Make sure you stir your peanut butter thoroughly before measuring it out.
I haven’t tried almond meal – can’t see it helping with binding. But you never know 🙂
Hope that helps!
Jx
Hi Jules I have made these w and w/o sugar. I’m wondering if you have found a way to make the sugar free ones have more of the sugar texture? I like the texture that you achieve w the sugar but don’t want the sugar.
If you’re happy to use a sugar substitute that has a sugar alcohol base like xylitol or erythrytol (natvia / truvia) the texture will be closer Sandy… but not exactly the same 🙂
This is a terrific recipe ! A handful of ingredients simply Cumberland that cook in 12 minutes to make a fabulous snack! I did not very poor change anything , but I will certainly do some experimenting in the future — I think making a triple or quadruple batch for vanilla ice cream sandwiches at my next party is a must !
Yes Karen!
The ice cream sandwiches are totally party-worthy 🙂