Cheap Eats :: Garbage Cookies

The holidays came and went and my family thought we were done with sweets, but nooooo. We needed more cookies in out lives apparently and inspiration struck on Pinterest, as usual.

I've had shredded coconut sitting in my cupboard for a few months, I bought it for a chicken recipe, but never got around to making it. So this recipe was right up my alley because I had all the ingredients on hand.

The original poster mentioned that you could add in almost anything, so I threw in some leftover peanut butter and chocolate chips I had laying around.

These were soo good. They were gobbled up almost immediately and the photos here are from the second batch in 3 days. I dare you not to love them!

Garbage Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter Chips
Pinch of Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.

1. Cream together the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda,
baking powder and salt.
3. Slowly incorporate flour mixture in with the creamed
butter and sugar.

4. When well mixed, add the flaked coconut and chips.
5. Once that is combined, drop onto parchment lined
baking sheets and bake for about 8-12 minutes
or until browned.
6. Let cool and serve.

Printable Recipe Card Below

Cheap Eats :: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I saw this recipe over on Pinterest the other day and it looked good...really good! I've never made no flour, no butter cookies. I was intrigued! 

I had all the ingredients except for one...vanilla extract. I was not deterred. I decided to add an ingredient in that I know tastes amazing with Peanut Butter...maple syrup.

Here is the recipe...[with my notes]

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter [i used Jif Chunky]
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla maple syrup or pancake syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup rolled oats [g-free if you want]
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• [I highly recommend adding 1/8 tsp salt]

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. In small bowl mix together the oats and baking soda; set aside.

3. In a large bowl beat peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in dry ingredients, then gently fold in chocolate chips.

4. Roll cookies into 2 inch dough balls and place onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart, then BARELY flatten the top of the cookie with your hand. The dough should be pretty sticky so if you find this method annoying, simply use a cookie scoop to drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. The cookies may not be as round in shape and perhaps a bit thicker, but that’s okay, they will still be delicious. I used an ice cream scoop and dropped my dough onto the sheet. This way yielded only 10 cookies...and they came out huge! Next time, I would roll them into small balls as suggested.
[the dough being sticky is an understatement. It's like no other dough I've made, but so are these cookies. Don't be freaked out about it.]

5. Bake cookies for 9-11[mine went a full 11] minutes and remove when edges barely begin to turn a golden brown. The cookies may look a little underdone, but they will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Makes 16-20 10 cookies.


Verdict

Not bad...but not great. It has a decent cookie texture, the lack of flour does make it a bit runnier in the middle (even though they were totally cooked).
Bigger issue, it needs SALT. There is no salt in this recipe and it tastes like it. A whole level of flavor is missing and salt really adds to the taste of peanuts and chocolate. Next time (if there is one, I'd add 1/8 tsp of salt, maybe 1/4 tsp).
All in all...add salt, make sure you don't make them as big as I did, and it should be a pretty good cookie fix for g-free peeps.