Teff Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo from www.stonybrookcookie.com

This past fall I found out that I have a sensitivity to gluten--rather than digesting gluten, my body attacks it and has an "immune response."  Since going gluten free, I have educated myself on all the wonderful food alternatives that I can indulge in and really do not miss my old gluten eating lifestyle that much (I have to admit that there are days when I would love a donut!).

Learning how to bake without gluten has been a bit of an adjustment--I am still finding different types of flours that I never knew about before.  One such flour is teff flour.  Teff is an ancient grain native to Ethiopia.  It has a sweet and malty flavor and is a great source of calcium (1 cup of teff has 387 mg of calcium which is 40% of the U.S. recommended daily allowance), magnesium, boron, copper, phosphorus, and zinc.  Teff is also high in protein and fiber. 

My latest obsession are these Teff Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Not only are they gluten free, but they are vegan as well.  I eat them not just for dessert, but for a mid-morning snack!  I like to think of them as "healthy" cookies.  Some people might be turned off by a gluten free and vegan cookie, but I even had my husband (who is neither vegan or gluten free) try these and his response was, "I could eat every last one."