Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I am not even going to try to pass these cookies off as healthy, but I am linking this up to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free because I was able to reduce the sugar of the original recipe by 25 percent by using date sugar. Date sugar can be used cup for cup to replace regular sugar, but since it is sweeter, I use less of it than I would cane sugar (the original recipe called for 2 cups or sugar and this recipe uses a combined 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, half being date sugar). Best part of these cookies is that my kids did not notice that I reduced the sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup of shortening ( I prefer Spectrum’s Organic All Vegetable Shortening)
3 Tablespoons water
3/4 cup date sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon gf vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 2/3 cups peanut butter chips ( feel free to substitute your favorite type of chips)

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and beat. Stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Drop mixture by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 3 – 3 1/2 dozen depending on how big you make the cookies. Let sit for a minute or two on the cookie sheet before movie to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Have you baked with date sugar before? Did you find that it tasted sweeter to you?