Chewy PB2 Cookies

I've been craving peanut butter lately. I mean....who doesn't love peanut butter?! (I did find out that one of the students at work doesn't.....I vocally judged her....). But usually things with peanut butter are pretty high in calories. But a while ago, I discovered PB2 powdered peanut butter, and I love it. I usually mix it which chocolate protein powder, almond milk, and ice for a awesome protein smoothie (and sometimes add banana); this is super similar in taste to Jamba Juice's Peanut Butter Moo'd, and so much cheaper. But I wanted to find more uses for this awesome peanut powder than smoothies. So I searched Pinterest and found this amazing looking cookie. Click here to see the original recipe.

I admit, I easily weighed out the ounces for the recipe using my kitchen scale...but when trying to plug in the ingredients to Lose It....that was more a pain. I Googled conversions! So the conversions I got are below.

Servings: 35 cookies
About 50-60 calories per serving

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar (white, granulated)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (~3.5 oz)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp molasses*
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water
1 cup PB2**
1 1/2 cup whole wheat floor

*The original recipe calls for corn syrup...which I did not have. I substituted molasses. This also required slightly extra water.
**For those of you unfamiliar with PB2, you can find it on Amazon.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (I used my silicone baking sheets and they worked fine).
Step 3: Mix together sugars, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt, molasses, water and PB2. Beat until smooth.
Step 4: Add flour gradually, beating until mixture is well combined. Add extra water as needed to ensure dough is moist (in 1 tbsp increments). Dough will be very sticky.
Step 5: Drop tablespoon-sized balls onto prepped baking sheets.
Step 6: Press top of each cookie with a fork to make parallel lines; flattening cookies to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. (I discovered that the dough stuck to the fork, ruining the cookie shape. But dipping the fork into water between ever 2-3 cookies worked wonders...no more sticking!)
Step 7: Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes, reversing pans midway through (top to bottom, bottom to top).
Step 8: Once cool, store in airtight container.

Recipe's time estimate: 25 minutes (15 minutes prep, 10 minutes cook)
My total cooking time: 55 minutes (40 minute prep, 15 minutes cook)

These were amazing, especially for being only 50-60 calories a piece. They kind of remind me of peanut butter protein bars, but I love those so I see no problem. I was quite a bit slower on the prep time, as the dough is tough to hand-mix since it's so sticky (I sadly do not yet have a stand mixer). Will definitely be making these again!!

Ingredients

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