I was flipping channels earlier and stopped at Giada’s Food Network Show (yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the official name of it). I never actually follow recipes, but I do like to get inspiration from the Food Network.
Well, she was talking about comfort foods and making the most amazing chocolate cookies. I stopped and made note of the ingredients in my head movies. 
Now, I knew I should NOT bake these cookies for several reasons…
-
I am the worst baker so I usually try to avoid it.
-
It’s 100 degrees here today so baking on a stove from the 1880s isn’t the best idea.
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I don’t have any FLOUR. All I have is garbanzo bean flour – not even oats to grind into oat flour. <- hello.
But, I did have all the chocolate and sugar for this recipe – and that’s really all you need to make cookies, right? Right??
No, not at all.
But, I figure I’d make them with garbanzo bean flour, call them gluten free and pin the shit out of them. 
Monica’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
(inspired by Giada’s Double Chocolate and Espresso Cookies)
Chocolate: 1 TJ’s super dark chocolate bar with 1.5 Tb. butter. Melt in the microwave and combine. Add 1 egg when it’s cool.
Dry: 1 cup garbanzo bean flour, 1/2 c sugar, dash salt, 2 Tb cocoa powder. <- I forgot to use baking powder but they’re still fluffy. Combine.
Add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Mix. Drop onto baking sheet from the second story balcony. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Truthfully, the batter tasted weird. But the final baked product was delicious! I know – I was surprised myself! 
As if chocolate chocolate cookies aren’t enough – I played at the park with Skinny Runner today. 
I would have brought her some cookies, but
A.) She only eats salad and pickles
B.) I made them after I saw her.
She made me scream “SR is the best!!!!” from this horn thing, but the joke’s on her because I really screamed “SR is the breast!!!” 
And I cannot do a pull up to save my life.
The End.
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Giada so much! It is hard to duplicate her recipes though and make the baked goods turn out the same…It’s kinda like my rainbow cookie fail. I have you heard of pinstrosity.blogspot.com? My cookies should be on there:
stephsmiles.com/rainbow-cookie-fail/
I WANT to love her but she drives me insane! Some of the things she makes are sooooooooo unhealthy and she’s the size of a toothpick! Lucky Bum.
HA! I like this because it is true and I agree. Skinny chef = load of crap.
Yea, Giada is super tiny. I actually read an interesting article about her health habits a few months ago. I think she’s one of those food stars who takes bite of things then spits it out.
All I can think of when I read that is, she’s showcasing this food to the world but she won’t eat it!? It’s kind of annoying lol
I heart both of you gals. Did you meet on the blogosphere or were you besties before Al Gore invented the Internets?
LOL! Thank you for the hysterical post today. I needed the laughs.
Yea you and SR must get together all the time…how did you meet? How close do you live? Do your hubbies get together too?
(blogging minds want to know…ha!)
We met on an online dating site called Run Skinny Runner Eat Repeat
and live about 6 miles from each other I think?
Any recipe I make: immediately goes to Pinterest. Just kinda happens that way. Then I waste the rest of life on it…:-)
chef mon…would these work if i subbed out garbanzo flour and used regular ground up flowers? egg whites and 1 teaspoon of applesauce for the egg?
Yes, but make sure you sub out the sugar for air or they’ll be super fattening…
I thought you were trying to lose weight. Shouldn’t that be the #1 reason why you shouldn’t have baked chocolate cookies?
Good point! I am trying to lose weight, but I’m not completely cutting out all treats. I’m trying to keep a balance.
Understandable and a practice that works well for many. However, don’t you think a sugary yogurt, topped with fruit and honey almonds counts as a “treat” for the day? The nutritional context of the meal certainly constitutes itself as a “treat.”
I don’t mean to hound or rag on you, just genuinely interested in learning what should truly be counted as a treat within my own diet. Given your personal training background I assume you offer some nutritional advice to clients (and believe many mimic your eating habits considering you are a healthy living blogger).
I know the sugar content of the yogurt is high, but I never consider yogurt a treat. It would never satisfy me as a treat, so if I ate it as such I would still scrounge around for a dessert if I was in the mood for one. I actually can’t officially give any nutritional advice as it doesn’t fit under a PT certification. But, I personally aim for a balance – 80% healthy clean eating, 20% treats. I do think a treat can fit into anyone’s diet – even someone trying to lose weight if your overall caloric intake ends up in a deficit. I personally am aware my sugar intake is high (especially when I take fruit into account) so it’s something I’m working to improve, but I had 2 cookies today and I think that’s fine.
Thank you for the explaination
And I agree, treats can certainly fit into one’s diet if their overall caloric intake is lower.
Why lately has there been so many people commenting on Monica’s food choices? Yogurt? Fruit? REALLY? And it’s balance, not “no” treats or you are trying to lose weight so you “can’t” each certain things. If you want a way to lose weight, consult a nutritionist. It’s taking away from the blog when I read the comments and people keep calling her “out”.
Seriously! Whatever happened to “everything in moderation”? Poor girl can’t even sniff chocolate anymore without people being all RAWR!
Coni,
My comment was not intended to lessen other reader’s experience. It was a genuine question and considering this is blog more or less falls under the “healthy living” category, it was also a warranted question.
I could be misspeaking here, but I think if a blogger did not want feedback or the opportunity to interact via the internet with their readers, then they would close their blog to comments.
Again, apologies for taking away from your RER reading experience.
Michelle,
The problem is you can’t read people’s sincerity or biatchyness via the internet so if a comment if worded even half wrong people are going to put a mean tone on it. It was a good question…it just also sounded rude. So, don’t take the angry comments in your direction too personally.
My issue is only with the fact that you are not commenting on her blog, it’s design, it’s mission statement, or content. You are commenting on “how” she chooses to “diet” or how she thinks is the best way to lose weight. I wouldn’t do Paleo but that doesn’t mean when I read someone’s interesting blog and they are doing Paleo the last thing I’d do is be like “Paleo is not a way to lose weight” or “thats too much meat, thats not a way to lose weight”.
That being said, you are entitled to say what you want and enjoy your readership.
thanks Carolyn for getting me
and thanks to Lacy too
All I can say is whatever Monica is doing she looks AWESOME!! Did you see her in that dress??
Very funny post! Thanks for the laugh …..but now I’m laughing more at the comments. Life is a balance isn’t it
I can’t do pull ups either! Recently I was thinking that I should try to do some, but the only place that I have the equipment to try is at the gym, and I’d feel super embarrassed hanging from the bar, flailing about like I did during the Presidential Fitness Test in elementary school!
HA! I hated that part of the PFT too! I always felt like such a tool hanging there and flailing around like a special needs monkey. So humiliating.
Bahahaha, way to pin the shit out of them! Will have to try these in the future!!
Love it that you and SR are friends. Makes me want to walk with my bestie, but we have so much trouble coordinating it with out lil kids and schedules (yawn, your 30′s are going to be boring). We just did a half marathon together, though, so that was great! MY point being, your cookies look rockin, and your training lately has been inspirational. Keep eating that yoghurt! xo
Garbanzo bean flour! Would never have thought about it.
I love watching Giada!! I’m always amazed at how clean her kitchen is all the time!! Whenever I make her recipes (and all others for that matter) it resembles a crime scene!! Those cookies look great!!
You and SR always look like you have SO much fun together! It’s great to have that kind of friendship.
Are the cookies pretty chocolatey? My mumma is Ceiliac and gets really sad that GF chocolate things dont taste particularly great. Where did these fit on the Monica cookie scale?
They are super chocolate-y, almost brownie like.
Love this post – youre so funny! I don’t about garbanzo flour, but those cookies sure look good!
You seem to be a throw-it-together kinda girl so if you don’t like following recipes, it makes sense that your baking doesn’t always work out. But…SCORE on the chocolate cookies!!!! Good work!!
This is going to sound SO pathetic but I did a real push up yesterday (yes, just one) and I was so proud of myself! I probably can’t do a pull up to save my life either but I couldn’t do a real push up before yesterday and holy cow did it ever make me feel great being able to do even just one
!!
I bet you’re a freakin hoot to hang out with lol!
I’m with you. They are hard. Real genuine properly done push ups. Hard. I would LOVE to be able to do a pull up. Or ten. Yeah, ten. Cause you’re right. One does sound kinda sad. I’m only allowed to say that cause I’m right there at that party with you.
Good job! They are hard! Keep your core in tight, squeeze your butt so your body is a plank and make sure to breathe as you do it, makes it easier. A tiny bit at least
Cookies look yum! I substitute weird crap all the time & need to start documenting the ones that turn out fine. I honestly don’t “Trust” people who cook for a living & are pin thin…how is that possible?
haha I never tried garbanzo flour.. these look good! Yay for cookies
Nice post. Lervin the pullup atempt. Mine is kind of like that except my feet are still on the ground.
Ha!
This reminded me of the black bean brownies (gluten free & high protein) I used to make for my little guy who had a gluten allergy. Sounds disgusting but it’s fudgy deliciousness in every bite.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/black-bean-brownies/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=black%20bean%20brownies&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
These are super “brownie like” too! Still looking for the ginga ninja shirt…
Would you believe I made the Ginja Ninja shirt. I think you can order some online, but he saw it somewhere and I painstakingly recreated it using an iron on printer friendly transfer. I’ll email you a pic.
I’m looking for one now! Love it.
Eh, pull-ups are overrated. And I’m totally pinning this recipe, because it looks delicious.
i literally had that same thought about having only garbanzo bean flour in my cupboard and wanting cookies (except, i always want cookies, so whatever…). i’m totally going to try this recipe now though. thanks!
Awesome site! I am just learning about becoming gluten free. There’s lots of good in fo out there so thanks for sharing your site.
Thanks,
Chris