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Here is the low-down: if you have been reading this blog, you know I have been working on a low-carb peanut butter cookie recipe for some time. This is the latest, and in my opinion, best version yet. Previous versions tasted great, but were so delicate they were required a very gentle hand. This version is sturdier, and still tastes great. The secret ingredient? Vital wheat gluten. I added in a tablespoon of it, and a matching tablespoon of water to keep things from drying out. Turns drying out was the least of my problems. When these cookies went into the oven, they released a lot of oil and really smoked things up. They overflowed the flat Pampered Chef stone I put them on, and peanut-almond-butter-oil on the bottom of the stove. Was it due to my using a new jar of almond butter that I had to stir up? Was it some weird reaction due to the wheat gluten and water? I don't know, but can say they did come out great and hold together much better. In fact, I think I'll have to have another one now, just to verify they aren't too delicate after cooling off a bit on the cookie rack.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Maranatha Natural Almond Butter
• 1/2 cup Skippy Super Chunk Peanut Butter
• 1 cup pourable Splenda
• 1 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°f.
• Combine all ingredients in mixer and mix well. I suggest add the pourable splenda first, carefully add everything on top of it, and start the mixer slow.
• Use a small cookie dough scoop to form 12 cookies on a cookie sheet that has an edge. I actually got 13 cookies.
• Important:You must imprint each cookie with a fork in the classic criss-cross pattern.
• Bake for 15 minutes. In my instance as the photos show, the cookies released a lot of oil and basically fry in their own juices.
• When done, transfer cookies to a cooling rack so they don't soak in the oil.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1 cup pourable Splenda
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons sliced almonds

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 350°f.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly
• Use a small cookie dough scooper to scoop out 12 dough balls and place on a cookie sheet
• Use a rubber spatula to flatten the balls out to the desired thickness
• Use a fork to impress the universal symbol of peanut butter cookies on top of each one.
• Bake for 15 minutes, or until they seem done.

Now I should note, this version is a tad more complex, so it isn't really an "Idiot Cookie" anymore. I want to use almond butter, as it is a low carb alternative to peanut butter. I did not have enough almond butter, so crunchy peanut butter came to the rescue. I added in some almond lices, using Almond Access salad topping almonds. I think they have just a slight bit of salt added, which worked great with the cookies.

So how did they taste? They were excellent! Only problem is, they are delicate. They crumble with the slightest bump, so eating over a plate is a necessity. I should know, as I've already eaten three in an hour, and am contemplating eating another. Yeah, these came out good.

What's the carb count on each cookie? Well, crunchy peanut butter has almost the same carb count as almond butter, so I'm not too concerned on that. The carb count? Atkins-wise, it should be a tad over 3 net carbs per cookie. I'll guess, oh, 3.14125. Pi in carbs. Sounds reasonable. I guess that means I ate 12 carbs worth of cookies tonight, so I guess I'll skip that fourth cookie. You are welcome to eat as few or as many as you wish, though.

You may have seen my other idiot cookie recipe. This one uses almond butter instead of peanut butter.

Ingredients

• 1 cup MaraNatha Almond Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Splenda
• 1 egg

Directions

• Mix all the ingredients together using a mixer. The resulting consistency will be a bit dry.
• Use a small scoop to produce 11 dough balls (I couldn't get 12 out of it), and place on a cookie sheet
• Bake for 350°f. for 15 minutes
• Press down on the cooked cookies lightly with a fork to squish them down a bit and put that nice fork pattern. Hm. Maybe I should have done this before cooking them. Whatever.

According to my nutritional info calculations, MaraNatha almond butter has 3 net carbs (total carbs minus dietary fiber) per two tablespoons. One egg has two carbs. One cup has sixteen tablespoons. Granulated Splenda has "zero" carbs per tablespoon, but I'm going to guess "zero" means "just under a half", so I'll say it has eight carbs. Calculations come up with what, 24 + 2 + 8 = 34. 34 / 11 = 3.09. So, each cookie has about 3 net carbs.

So how do they taste?

They ain't bad, really. Even though they're made with almond butter, they don't taste like an almond cookie. More like a peanut butter / almond butter hybrid. Texture is a bit too crumbly maybe? hm. I'm not sure. I better eat another one now to give a good statement here.

(2 minutes later) They are good! The outside is a bit dry, and the inside is a bit underdone; like the inside of a red bean manju. I've eaten three cookies in an hour, so I don't think I'm staying within my carb numbers today. Oh well. Ah, but these do taste good. I'm typing this up about 45 minutes after baking them, so I can't say how they will be the next day. They are a bit delicate, certainly not cookie jar material. I think they'll have to be carefully placed on a plate, otherwise they will crumble to bits. Of course, eating them solves that problem.