Dad's Peanut Butter Cookies

Whenever I take care of my dad, I try to have a set of cookies, pancakes, or something sweet and bread like that he can have with his coffee.  His routine involves coffee and sweet bread in the morning.  However, he is diabetic and has other health conditions that make a grain based diet very unhealthy for him. So, in order for him to feel like he still gets his "panesito" I try to have a substitute for him.

The second challenge is not being in my own home where I have access to all of my ingredients.  So, I try to come up with things that use what he has at home.  I supply the almond flour and at my parents' home, there almost always is peanut butter, eggs, sea salt, baking soda, vanilla, and agave.  So "Whala!" I have the ingredients for these peanut butter cookies.  This recipe is adapted from Elena's pantry.  The recipe she has for peanut butter cookies, I find too crumbly.  My dad has arthritis and he needs a cookie that is a bit firmer so that he can hold it and it won't fall apart.  My version of this recipe holds together very well.  Here it is:

Note: This recipe is not very sweet - it just has a hint of sweet.  If you want it a bit sweeter, I think it would be okay to add another TBS of agave.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter or sunflower butter
1/4 cup agave or honey
2 TBS palm shortening or butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg (optional) * This is what I add so that the cookie holds together better and is firmer for my dad to hold.  If you want a vegan recipe you can eliminate the egg and it works, but the cookie is more delicate.

1.  In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients
2.  In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients using a hand mixer (I did this by hand as well and it worked fine).
3.  Blend dry ingredients into wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.
4. Scoop about 1 TBS of dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
5. Use a fork to flatten the dough and make a criss cross pattern.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-12 minutes.