It can be hard to get the big kid to eat enough protein. He doesn’t eat meat, and a lot of the non-meat protein sources are foods that don’t appeal to him (or have “gross” textures- So is the life of a kid with ASD).

Like moms who have been trying to sneak in healthy foods for ages, I’ve been trying to find ways to add protein to foods he already enjoys without making the textures or flavors “weird”.

I really love the Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix– You can substitute it 1 for 1 with AP flour in baking to ramp up the protein in your baked goods without sacrificing flavor or texture.

I am also a huge fan of peanut flour, like PBFit. I add it to shakes and baked goods all the time. I decided to play around with it in our favorite cookie recipe, to see if we could add some protein and flavor without making the cookies “weird” in texture or flavor. Luckily everyone in the house LOVES peanut butter cookies.

I entered all the ingredients into to Spark Recipes Nutrition Calculator to get the information on the amount of protein per serving. If you make more or less cookies with cookie dough, your nutritional info will vary slightly.

Protein Peanut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 18 servings or 2 cookies each (approx 3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup softened butter or butter flavored crisco (NO NOT USE SPREAD OR MARGARINE)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp. Vanilla
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 cups Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix
• 1/2 cup PBFit
• 12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter/shortening
3. add sugars one at a time and mix until fluffy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated fully.
5. Mix in soda, salt, flour and PBFit. Once all are blended into dough, add chocolate chips.
6. drop tablespoon sized dough balls on cookie sheets that have been greased, or are lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.  I prefer the silicone baking pads.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cookies may not be golden or as brown as you are used to- but they are done. Let cookies rest 1-2 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.

Notes: Cookies contain less sugar than most traditional cookie recipes, which means they do not get as brown in the oven as they cook. This recipe makes approx. 3 dozen cookies and each serving of two cookies contains 275 calories and 7 grams of protein.