Guiltless Peanut Butter Cookies

You can add the chocolate chips one at a time like this Sous Chef.

I love cookies. My kids love cookies. My husband loves cookies. My dog loves cookies. Who doesnʻt love cookies?

Cookies pose many difficulties to waist lines and diet plans. No matter how committed I am to some diet or healthy eating kick, I inevitably end up in my kitchen creaming butter and sugar, licking spoons, and subjecting myself to salmonella poisoning. I proceed to go to bed in a guilt spiral, regretting my life decisions and hoping tomorrow will be different. However these cookies have the best of both worlds- yummy cookie goodness, and so little sugar that you can almost call them healthy! (Almost. Let’s face it, it’s still a dessert.)

For the celiac and gluten-intolerant bellies, just use gluten free oats. For the natural sweetener lover, you can use maple syrup instead of sugar. For the super sugar-conscious, or if you just want plain peanut butter cookies, you can omit the chocolate chips with minimal disappointment.

This recipe rescues me from guilt spirals, and gives me a “good job mom!” feeling inside when serving these for dessert. Youʻll love indulging in these treats when you are cutting back sugar. Yet they are so good, you donʻt even feel like youʻre missing out when you just want to eat a delicious cookie!

Guiltless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
½ cup brown sugar (you can substitute ½ cup maple syrup if youʻre that kind of hero)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups oats (quick or old fashioned; gluten-free if needed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend peanut butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in baking soda, oats, and optional chocolate chips. Scoop 1 inch balls onto cookie sheet. If you aren’t using chocolate chips, press them flat with your palm or a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield 2 Dozen

Today is for Eternity

It is easy to get stuck in the wrong time zone.

Rehearsing the past- what I should have, could have, would have, but can’t do anything about anymore. Continuing to wonder what would have been if only I had done, or said, or thought differently. Regret and shame can build dreadful little homes in our hearts when we rehearse the past.

Worrying about the future- “What if?” can color my world with a million grand dreams or million nightmares. Living today attached to “what if?” can be paralyzing. Fear has its greatest hold on us in this worry. Yet this worry has no reality. Worry is merely hypothetical threats.

Living only for today- this seems quite admirable. It’s so close to where we need to be. We need to be present, taking one step at a time, living in the moment. But if we only lived for this moment, we would be quite ruthless with our time, energy and goals.

When moments are so fleeting, and we see our children growing faster than we can comprehend, and we still value our yesterdays, how do we live in the right relationship with our time?

Past, present, or future, it all succumbs to the weight of eternity.

God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
He has planted eternity in the human heart,
but even so, people cannot see the whole scope
of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Eternity is the time beyond now that gives purpose to my entire existence. The mistakes I made can become redeemed as stepping stones over pitfalls in light of eternity. The dreams I dream, that are too big and wonderful for me to ever achieve alone, become the seeds of promise in eternity. The today where I succeed becomes a stitch in the golden tapestry of goodness that will only be seen in its fullness in eternity.

My hopes should always be too full and too big, because they are not only mine. They belong to those who have gone before me and cheer me on from heaven. They belong to those who are still ahead of me, who can run long past me.

Eternity tells me that my past can be redeemed. Eternity shows me my future can be better. Eternity reminds me that today is important, but today is not the sum of the future. Today is a stepping stone on a road filled with promise, and that’s where I need to live.

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