Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

Yes, they're vegan - and delicious! They're not health food by any stretch of the imagination, but they're much better for you than something bought commercially or recipes that have two sticks of butter as the first ingredient. :o) If you have a wheat grinder or a BlendTec (or similar high powered blender), it is preferable to grind the wheat immediately before using it in the recipe. If you don't have one of these blenders, using commercially prepared whole wheat flour will work.

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan butter)
1 T. vanilla extract
3 T. soy milk
3/4 cup Sucanat
2 T. ground flax seed
3 T. water
1 3/4 cup finely ground wheat OR commercially prepared whole wheat flour
2 T. gluten flour*
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream peanut butter, Earth Balance, vanilla, soy milk and Sucanat in a large bowl. Mix flax and water together in a small bowl and let stand for about 5 minutes, or until an "eggy" consistency. Add to peanut butter mixture and beat until combined.

Grind wheat (if doing so) and combine flour with salt, gluten and baking soda. Add to peanut butter mixture and beat to combine. Mixture will be very thick.

Form balls of dough slightly smaller than a golf ball using two spoons or your hands. Place on cookie sheet at least one inch apart. Flatten with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. Bake for about 8 minutes or until no longer doughey. Remove from cookie sheet immediately and cool on a wire rack or paper towels.

*The gluten flour is optional. It works to help "soften" the whole wheat flour. The cookies will still work without the gluten flour, but the resulting cookie will be drier and more crumbly.

Makes about 32 cookies.

Tip: Whole wheat is highly nutritious, and by grinding it right before incorporating into a recipe you maintain the nutritional value in the wheat. However, as the ground wheat sits, it rapidly loses its nutritional value. Store any leftover wheat in the refrigerator in an air-tight container and use within 5 days.