I Think I'm a (Peanut-free) Mother

I came across PJ Harvey in that awkward, amazing time between 7th and 9th grades, where puberty is coming on strong, all looks angry and gray, and no one gets you, man (not even yourself). Her voice was hypnotic--deep, powerful and slightly hoarse. Hers is another face I remember being transfixed by on 120 Minutes and SoundFX (Note: Hey, remember when FX launched? How cool that was?).

I received "To Bring You My Love" as a 13th birthday present along with Bad Religion's "Stranger Than Fiction." I played it almost daily on my stereo and in my Walkman. When I traveled anywhere, that album came with me. I was not quite bold enough to be a Riot Grrl, but PJ Harvey was someone I could emulate. I could raise both middle fingers high in the air and curse the world, while still being feminine and powerful. What we didn't realize about gender identity and expression back then.

Flash forward 23 years, and now I am a mother, yet still clutching tightly to that angsty girl I was back in the 90s. I still held on hope that I wouldn't turn into an all organic, "we never touch processed food in this house" kind of woman. My children would eat everything and anything, especially when I came home from a long day at work. They were Midwesterners, dammit! That was, until, my son ate a peanut butter sandwich and his eyes swelled shut.

As punk rock as we wish to be, peanut allergies--ALL food allergies--are nothing to take lightly. While we are lucky his reaction is minor, we have become a peanut-free house. I, the queen of the toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich, am now a peanut-free mom.

Out of respect and love for my child, I decided to try my hand out taking the peanuts out of some of my favorite peanut recipes. I started with the basic peanut butter cookie, and I just so happened to have a jar of almond butter on hand to experiment with.

I Think I'm a (Peanut-free) Mother Basic Cookie

What you'll need:

1 c. almond butter (This is what I had on hand, and luckily, we have no other nut allergies to contend with. I imagine seed butters would work, but you may have to adjust the flavor profile to work)

1/2 c. vegetable shortening

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. milk (more or less depending)

How I did it:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. I lined two baking sheets with parchment paper, because 1) I love the stuff and 2) I hate cleaning. Plus, the cookies came off easily when baked.

Start by creaming together the almond butter, shortening and sugar. I like to use some amount of shortening in my cookie recipes because I like how my cookies turn out. You could possible sub some butter or all butter in the place of shortening, but I always found butter and peanut butter a strange combination in my cookies, so I didn't change it here. I also used plain granulated sugar here because I felt the almond butter could use the sweetness. I wasn't sure how brown sugar would change the flavor, so for this time, I left it out. I may continue to adjust this recipe, so stay tuned for revised versions as I get used to other nut/seed butters.

One the mixture turns light brown and fluffy, add the egg and extracts. I like almond extract a lot--almost as much as I like vanilla--so this seemed like a no brainer here. I think it add something extra to the flavor.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Dump into the wet ingredients and mix until it looks like wet sand.

Now it's time to shape the cookies. When I went to shape mine, I felt the dough was a little dry. It would stick together when pressed, but I wanted something a little wetter. I eyeballed a few splashes of milk (almond milk would probably work great here too, but it was in the back of my fridge), but a tablespoon is probably sufficient. (I will note that this made the end product a little flatter than I expected, but they were still chewy.) I would add a little at a time until the dough feels right to you. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and mark the tops with a fork.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms just start to brown. I like to rotate my sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through. This helps me to gage how they are baking and adjust the time if needed. Cool on a rack and then dunk them angrily into a glass of milk. They would go well with vanilla ice cream or a chocolate drizzle.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

*This is also a work in progress. Let us know what worked well for you. I have no doubt I will be revisiting this topic again.