I’ve been doing a whole load of really fun food writing over the last few weeks for various awesome blogs and magazines that are getting prepped and ready to cheerlead for the launch of The UnDiet Cookbook.  The topic I seem to be coming back to over and over is the idea that every recipe has a story. And it’s true. They all do. And the Sunday Night Quickie Chocolate Chip cookies from my cookbook have a good one. For the cookie recipe I am sharing here with you today, I used the base of the cookie recipe from my cookbook and I wanted to tell you why. The students registered in the Certified Professional level of the CNE program have received advanced copies of my cookbook and this cookie recipe was a fast favourite. And every time I see someone post that they’re making them, I get this slight twinge of anxiety. Even their results couldn’t appease my fears. Typically, when I create recipes and get a winner, I stick with it and then offer variations. When I wrote out the recipe for the Sunday Night Quickie Chocolate Chip Cookie, I felt pretty confident that it was a fool proof gluten-free cookie wonder. Until it wasn’t. We baked these cookies here in the kitchen for the food photoshoot and they were great. Solid and hearty as I remembered them. I had also had the recipe tested by my Culinary Nutrition grads. No issues raised there. But then, we made these cookies for the family dinner photoshoot for the book and despite how we may appear in the photos, these cookies tasted terrible and would not hold together. I assumed it was fluke, that whoever had made them for the shoot missed an ingredient and didn’t think much of it. They were really just props. When I was putting the final edits on the book last fall I started having my doubts (read: up in the night wondering what happened to that recipe) and so I baked up a batch. Disaster. They wouldn’t hold together and tasted terrible – bitter and too salty. I kept adjusting the various flours. I made a batch at my cottage and they worked. Made another in my kitchen and no luck. I couldn’t figure it out. I went ahead with the recipe as it had been tested and hoped for the best.

Solving the Cookie Mishap Mystery

In January we began the filming for the revised Culinary Nutrition Expert Program. In one of the videos for the Plantiful Eating module (find out how you can get access to that course here), I was making the Gravy Boating gravy recipe while the UnShepherd’s pie baked in the oven. The cameras were on me, the induction cooktop was on and the gravy was simmering. As I went to add the arrowroot starch into the gravy to thicken it, the whole thing started bubbling and rising, and to my horror quickly overflowed the pan onto the cooktop, the counter and down onto the floor. And just like that, I figured out why my cookies had been a crumbly, bitter mess. Someone had refilled the jar of arrowroot starch with baking soda. The mystery was solved but as one final, final, final dose of assurance that this was in fact the problem and not my recipe, I used that chocolate chip cookie base for these most delicious Plum Jam Cookies.

The Best Jam Ever

During the summer, most of my recipe creation happens when I’m up North. This isn’t altogether fair because everything tastes good when eaten surrounded by fresh and nature. But I’m pretty confident this jam will be most awesome everywhere and can work with any kind of fruit. Print

More Jam Recipes

• Raspberry Jam
• Strawberry Rhubarb Butter
• Apple Butter
• Blueberry Jam

And then it was on to the cookie recipe testing…from my already printed book. Not terrifying at all. Josh captured this one of my deep focus/fear. They went into the oven and they came out. And they were a smashing, raving, wonderful, sigh-of-relief success.  Go forth and bake with confidence! Print This is a great recipe to play with. Make it with chocolate chips, add cranberries. Let me know how you’re using it with #UnDietLife on Twitter and Instagram.