When Cookies For Breakfast are Acceptable

Yesterday, I saw a very intriguing recipe posted by SunButter Sunflower Seed Spread. The recipe is simple- SunButter, some spices, and chocolate.. LOTS of chocolate. And I keep seeing this post which states "Chocolate comes from cocoa which comes out of a tree. That makes it a plant. Therefore, chocolate
counts as a salad. The end." and I firmly agree with this.

Photo from Gina at SoLetsHangOut.com

I am all about easy recipes that also include protein so there I sat, staring and drooling at my computer screen. I often see recipes that I say "I want to try that!" but just don't have the time. But then, an act of God (literally) pushed me to give it a shot. Rather than sticking to what I had originally planned for the day (work, work, and oh, work) we woke up to a lovely mixture of snow and ice. Really, just ice. And I have to admit- as much as I dearly love my children and try to spend time with them, this winter has been unexpected in North Carolina and (I say this lovingly), I'm pretty sure we are all just about done with extra curricular bonding time. So instead, I decided to go against ALL of my usual rules about breakfast- at breakfast, ALWAYS have a protein, breakfast CANNOT be skipped and breakfast MUST be healthy to keep your brain flowing properly throughout the day. Today, during this ice storm, this all went right out the window. Why am I telling you this? Because as a Food Allergy Consultant, I not only stress the importance of good foods and food combinations but I also always tell the truth. I am also a normal mom who does the best that she can with her current situation and I understand that others do the same. It's just life. What I am doing now is still 1,000 better than what I was doing last week, last month, last year and I am ok with that.

Back to the morning production of the Giant SunButter Nut-Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies. I mean, when have I ever said 'Let's have cookies for breakfast!" I can honestly say, never. So of course, NutriDaughter (my kitchen helper, which is ironic because it's my son who has the food allergies...typical) and I got out all of the ingredients needed for the recipe. See- simple and just a few ingredients.

And due to the weather, both of us were appropriately dressed for the occasion....I wonder where she gets her fashion sense? Can you guess who is who? (lol) We started mixing and adding and as I went to get the baking pan I froze- no parchment paper! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Quickly, my brain went into action. Think, think, think. Use what I have...what do I have. Ah ha- paper muffin cups! Will it work? We did a test run of just a few in case it backfires, then we wouldn't waste all of the batter. Lo and behold, they worked like a charm.  My daughter renamed them "Muffin Cookies". Hey, no sticking, no cleanup, I was happy. 

And, the outcome? Three letters - O. M. G.!!!! Talk about a scrumptious, easy, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. They are addictive. I may have had three..or five. The consistency was a slightly crunchy outside with a chewy, gooey inside. And, I decided to test out an added crunch factor by adding Glutino Gluten Free Pretzel Sticks on top of a few of them. The result- very similar to a candy bar. For your viewing pleasure, here is a close-up-

These are definitely a recipe that I would make again (and again).

My daughter said that ours is better because "We filled ours with cuddles". I would recommend that when making this recipe, you double the batch. Ours made fifteen cookies which went pretty quickly. You could try making them smaller, in mini muffin cups but you know chances are that you would just eat twice as many then. They are also a bit filling and it sneaks up in you. My daughter had many more than I did and she wandered upstairs a bit later saying "I totally did not just eat the last SunButter cookie and I'm totally not going to throw up." As a mom, I was upset because she had too much of a good thing but I understand as I made myself leave the kitchen to stop eating them. 

There is another thing I must caution you about- because of the ingredients used in this recipe, you can quickly develop a side effect known as "Chocolate Crumb Finger". This phenomenon is caused by the peeling off of a muffin cup and the continued use of breaking apart the cookies to see the
chewy goodness inside. This cannot be helped and the only correct way to remove this is to lick the crumbs and chocolate off of your finger. Do not attempt to simply rinse it off- this will cause chocolate smudging on kitchen towels, which then leads to angry mothers all over the world who are trying to remove the chocolate stains from their white towels. Make the world a happier place and lick your finger. (Never thought I would say that, huh.)

Please make sue you check out the other yummy recipes at Sunbutter.com as they post and share many other great recipes. Because, as endorsed by NutriDaughter "SunButter is the best kind of butter."