Shannon's Kitchen Creations

We have all made peanut butter cookies a million times, but what about substituting almond butter. I have recently discovered almond butter and it is wonderful. My daughter hates peanut butter (she is strange), so I figured almond butter and jelly sandwiches would work for her. (She will actually eat these) I love to put a tablespoon on the half of an apple. It is much better for you than peanut butter and if you have a child with a peanut allergy, these are the perfect alternative. Try them out! Enjoy!

I am in the works for a giveaway with Barney Butter, an almond butter company, for single serving size tubes, more info to come!

Image by Foodthatpeoplewant.com

Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Cookies

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Today was a yucky day! The weather is dreary, my husband is cutting wood at a friends (So I am alone with 3 kids Yippeee!) and I am sore from the 2 hour Zumba fundraiser I went to last night. ( So fun!!!) I went to the fundraiser with 2 of my friends and got to try out my new Zumba shoes!! They really helped with all the twisting and turning on the gym floor. I am a group fitness kinda gal and working out with 50 other women of all shapes and sizes, made me feel great. My post baby body didn’t look so bad. So onto entertaining the kiddies…..our old fall back… cookies. I am telling you, this is why people in the north east gain so much weight in the winter, we just eat and then cover up our fat with big sweaters and puffy coats. Hence weight watchers!!!  I love classic chocolate chip cookies, but wanted to try something different. I bought some almond extract, so I can make the low fat banana muffins that I read about on Green Lite Bites website and I wanted to figure out another recipe to use it in as well. I decided to try out a new combo, white chocolate and almond. They turned out really well and the small amount of butter and oats used to substitute some of the flour, help keep them low points! Yummmmmm…..

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I was pretty late with the whole bread machine craze. When my friends were all getting them at their wedding showers ten years ago, that was the last kitchen item I ever thought I would use. Last year my Mom made some cottage cheese dill bread in her bread machine. (I didn’t even know she had one) It was soft, warm and absolutely delicious. I smothered it in butter and I was hooked. Who thought fresh bread could be so easy to make! So I got a bread machine. Now to say I was a little obsessed with it when I first got it would be an understatement. I vowed never to buy that evil store bought bread again! I made every type of bread you can imagine. I started with the basic recipes and then started to expand my horizons. Did you know that you can make bread that looks like a bakery by simply using the dough cycle, shaping it and then putting it in a warm, empty dishwasher to rise? (On a cookie sheet, covered with a towel of course) It rises in no time and then you can have Ciabatta ( an amazing Italian bread), Challah ( an eggy, sweet bread that you can braid), Hawaiian Sweet bread (divine!) and other fancy looking breads that taste superior to anything you can find in the bakery section of the grocery store. The best part is you don’t get any dirty dishes and you can throw everything in on your way out the door. I am a big fan of doing a crock pot dinner with my bread machine bread. I put my bread machine on a timer and both are ready at the same time. Easy, no real clean up and fantastic. I have been on a bread making hiatus for a while, but decided to start up again today and some brown bananas called my name. This makes fabulous French toast.  I am already imagining it with oozing butter and warm maple syrup!!!! Yummy!

Picture courtesy of abigmouthful.com

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