Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cacao Nib Flax Cookies Food Photo Shoot and Recipe

Since they've entered my life, I've been looking for all different ways to use cacao nibs.  Today I decided to tweak a gluten free peanut butter cookie recipe in a few ways, now including the finely chopped nutty bitter bits.  I wasn't sure what I'd think of them honestly.  Truth be told I'm not even a believer in the peanut butter cookies with whole peanuts.  When I think perfect peanut butter cookie, I'm looking for something smooth.  But a nice crunch is good, especially when it's got interesting flavor.

These aren't outright chocolatey which is nice because it preserves the taste of the cookie.  The chocolate flavor really comes in after.  As I write there's a chocolatey aftertaste with a peanutty-ness and it's been a few minutes since I've eaten a cookie.  These are pretty delicious, a good way to dip your toes into gluten free baking with peculiar items like cacao nibs.

What You Need: 

1 1/2 sticks butter

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup peanut powder

3/4 cup quinoa flour

1/2 cup ground flax seed meal

1 cup finely chopped cacao nibs

Start by creaming the butter, peanut butter and sugar together.

Add the eggs and vanilla.

 Then add the flours and flax seed meal and mix until combined. 

Chop those nibs as finely as you can and mix them thoroughly into the dough.

I used my hands to form them into disks and dipped those into brown sugar until they were coated on both sides.  I baked them for 12 minutes at 190 degrees celcius until the edges were golden brown.

They were better than expected.  I'm still stuck on those smooth cookies but these are a nice break every once in awhile.  If you're looking for a good way to use either flax seed meal or cacao nibs, this is the way to do it.  The flax meal didn't conflict with texture, and since the oils aren't altered with baking you still get the same benefits from a baked good with flax seed meal.  Try these if you're iffy on gluten free, they are proof that these things can be really good if done correctly. 

Thanks for following and supporting, until next time!

All photos are mine and original, taken with my Nikon D5500 with standard AF-P 18-55mm.