Thanks Julie! Jude, are you reading this? Your cacao nibs are a hit!! Any recommendations for less crumbly PB cookies? More PDX? Some guar/xanthan gum?? Any hints from a chef will be gratefully accepted ...

hugs all, Glenda

Well, made 'em again, this time with more PDX plus 1/2 tsp of each gum. I also threw in 1/4 C of Atkins bake mix that I still had in my cupboard (running low on that one - almost time to mix up a batch of the copy-cat stuff).

Anyhow, the cookies came out a lot softer - almost cake-like, and definitely not crumbly. I'll see how they are tomorrow and, if they're still good, I'll probably add the recipe to the almost endless number of pb cookies in the recipe section.

Anny, I'll have some with me on Sunday if you and your DH can make it to Coquitlam before heading back to Victoria.

Glenda

I'd be glad to take a crack at it, sweetpea , but each recipe is different. Why don't you post the recipe (or if it's a family secret, PM it to me) and I'll see what I can do...

Chocolate is Good for You (especially without the sugar).

Just back from the mainland - missed the windstorm and no waits for the ferries!!! No secret on the recipe - I've been tweaking one I found here in the recipe threads! I'll try another batch before I post the recipe - these ones are a little TOO cakey or brownie like. Tasty though - haven't had anyone spit them out! One of these days, I'll learn to make changes one at a time so I know which one works. (No I won't!!!)


I just had to respond to this 'cause you called me sweetpea! Would you believe, my mother loved to tell the story of me being born almost hairless, and the nursery nurses combing the little hair I had into a top curl and calling me "swee'pea" (from the Popeye comic strip!

Well, I was so hairless, SweetPea, I didn't get a trim until I was four!

Go ahead and send me the recipe anyway? I've got some cookies pretty near the top of my project list right now...

Ta!

Let's see if I can remember what I did (I didn't write it down, which was dumb!)

The original recipe:
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C Splenda
1/2 C brown Sugar Twin
1 C sugar-free/salt free peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp bak. soda
Mix the egg and Splenda together, add the PB and mix well, add vanilla and soda, mixing thoroughly. Drop by teaspoons onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes. They are VERY crumbly and don't really seem to be baked enough. (And yes, I adjusted my oven setting according to my oven thermometer - I know better than to trust the oven thermostat!)

My latest version:
2 beaten eggs
1/2 C mixed sweetener (Splenda, brown Sugar Twin, Erythritol)
1/3 C PolyD
1 C sugar & salt free PB
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp bak. soda
1/4 C Atkins baking mix
1/4 tsp ea. guar & xanthan gums

I baked at approx. 375 F for 10 mins after rolling the cookies, half in granulated Splenda and half in cacao nibs. These are quite chewy. Maybe the poly-d plus the gums was over-kill?

Whatcha think?? Glenda (aka swee'pea )

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you changed a bunch of things at once! Hmmmmm, on the face of it, the gums and the PDX together with the relatively small amount of flour 'product', yup, just a bit much for texture...

Let me get back to you on this.....SweetPea!

Hey Julie -- if you're reading this, have fun this weekend and bring your earplugs ... I SAY "BRING YOUR EARPLUGS!"

Glenda

thanks Glenda - I have put them in my purse! Don't need to be more deaf than I already am!!!!!

Just waiting for Brian to get here so we can get going. Can you say "pacing"???? LOL

Julie

Hi all..... I made it back! Intact even..... LOL

The concert was awesome.... more than 60,000 people ion BC Place - not an empty seat in the house! They played lots of less familiar stuff in the first half and then the big hits later on.

The travel SUCKED!!!!! My hearing survived and I didn't even have a concert headache the next day. That surprised me as the children (couple of young teens) down the row sparked up a joint before the concert started and another part way through..... One of these little brats was dressed in a denim micro mini and the other was in a top so low it left nothing to the imagination.... where do kids get the idea that clothes like that are ok to wear?????? Ooops, that's a tirade for another day. They looked like a pair of skanks and I will leave it at that.....

After the concert (amazing show - fireworks, fire, lights....), we went back to the hotel and Brian decided he was hungry and so we went off in search of a vending machine - no such luck.... Because we hadn't meant to go outside we didn't take our coats - then he gets this bright idea to walk to 7/11 (two blocks away) so off we go without coats in the snow....... People must have thought we were nuts.

We watched the snow fall for the next hour or so before we fell asleep. When we woke up the roads were clear but it was snowing lightly. Things changed fast!!! After breakfast (at White Spot on Granville and Drake - DO NOT go there- service was TERRIBLE), we headed for the ferry. For those of you who are familiar with the area, it took us almost 2 hours to get from Granville and Drake to the ferry terminal.

I was glad to finally get home - we left Vancouver at 11, got the 3:00 ferry and finally pulled into my driveway just before 7!?!?!?!?

I was shocked to see all the snow here! Overnight I got another 4" so now I have about 10" in total. Boss told me to work at home today.... so here I am.

Take care all,

Julie

Ok, from crumbly to chewy; I figured somewhere in between would be good. Also, I've noted that PDX tends to require lower longer cooking or it doesn't get done in the middle. Soooooooooo, I started with the original base recipe and came up with this (minor changes only). DH taste tested and very much liked the rolled-in-Splenda version, he likes things sweeter (the cocoa nibs were a bit bitter for him, but I loved them!).



These are still a fairly tender cookie, but do not crumble TOO quickly if handled with a minimum of care.

PS: WELCOME BACK, JULIE! more snow is coming! I'm hip deep out here in Langford; even the 4-wheel is skiddy right now...

Thanks Jude! Your timing is perfect - we just ate the last of the chewy ones a couple of days ago (I dole them out very sparingly) and it's about time for another batch.

Julie, glad you made it home - sounds like a real ordeal to get back and glad to hear the concert was worth it! Actually, I wondered if you'd get stranded on the wrong side of the water. Jude, we heard that the Langford area got hit really hard - we've got about 8" in the Hillside area and haven't had the car out today (probably not tomorrow either). I don't even own a pair of boots!! (On the plus side, that means I can't be co-opted to shovel the drive!!)


You think maybe people were right!!"????

By the way Jude, why do most PB cookies call for baking soda rather than baking powder? I always understood that soda was needed when one used something sour in the ingred. list.

Good question...you noticed I changed out the b. soda for b. powder? That's because b. powder carries its own acid activator (cr. of tartar, in effect). I personally don't care for that strange pseudo salty alkali aftertaste one sometimes gets with baking soda...

Yes, you are right in reverse, it's the baking soda that needs an acid trigger for its leavening action, you'll see buttermilk and such like. OTOH, the b. soda is sometimes used in recipes for its neutralizing effect on acids, the pH change...to reduce an acid bite.

In this case, I have no idea why most PB cookie recipes have baking soda in them; I wouldn't have thought of PB as acid enough to do the job...or require neutralizing, either... Sugar/starch creates acidity in the mouth, don't know if that's relevant in this case, though.

Then again, maybe, just maybe , it's one of those inherited things. Somebody used the baking soda and everybody else just followed along converted from there on ... like following tail lights over a cliff?

Be interesting to find out...someday!

What are "boots"? My car never goes out in the snow. I hate driving in it and I don't trust other people on the road. My neighbours and I shovelled the street out to Glentana (View Royal doesn't plow private roads.....).

I took the bus in to work today and I am hoping to get offered a ride home.

As for people thinking I'm nuts - nothing new in that! I didn't think going out without a jacket was a good idea in the first place - the girl on the desk offered me her blazer but she was about a size 2 so that wasn't gonna happen....lol

Glad you are all ok - now we just have to hope that the forecast is WRONG and that this is it.

Take care, Julie