Peanut butter cookies - yuck!

[BunnyD]

So I tried a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies. The original recipe was:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes

I used Carb Options peanut butter and Splenda in my version. The finished cookies looked and tasted okay, but the texture was horrible! It crumbled like sawdust in your mouth. Any ideas why? Was it the Splenda - maybe it doesn't "blend" like sugar does when you bake it?

[not2late]

hi.

Before Atkins, I used to make peanut butter cookies without flour using a similar recipe. They turned out good: chewy with a bit of a crunch.

You are correct: it's the Splenda. Regular sugar when heated will melt and form a crystal-like structure. That structure helps hold the flourless peanut butter cookies together. Splenda doesn't do that, so the cookies are crumbly. There was a really good summary about Splenda's baking quality in "Cook's Illustrated" magazine about a year ago. I'll try to find my copy and post what they wrote.

Aspartame doesn't retain it's sweetness when heated. Saccharin develops a bitter taste, imo.

[BunnyD]

Thanks Megs! I figured it was the Splenda - how depressing! Any ideas for something else I can use instead? If I'm going to have a cookie, it'd be nice to make it at home so I know what goes in it. :yes