When my oldest daughter was about four months old, she started showing symptoms of a dairy sensitivity. Since I was nursing, I had to remove dairy from my diet completely. Her symptoms improved (and eventually she was cleared to try dairy and shows no symptoms now), but I was most impressed by how great I felt. No bloating, no sharp stomach pains, and I lost my baby weight (and then some!) so quickly when not eating dairy.

Since then (my daughter is 4 now), I’ve tried to avoid dairy for the most part. I don’t go crazy trying to keep it out of my diet, but I do know that I feel so much better when I don’t have it. I have really enjoyed discovering and trying alternatives to dairy, whether it be products or recipes.

A good friend recently made these dairy free chewy chocolate chip cookies using this recipe from Cheeky Kitchen. Now, if only I’d found this recipe 4 years ago when I first entered the world of dairy avoidance. These cookies are heavenly! The following recipe varies slightly from the original, but has been tweaked a tiny bit by me to make more cookies with the most perfect crispy edges and chewy texture. You can use regular chocolate chips if you aren’t going extreme with the dairy avoidance, or you can use non-dairy chocolate chips. My favorite are the Enjoy Life brand.

Oh, and when washing your hands after rolling the dough into balls, the brown sugar makes for an excellent hand scrub. A mini spa treatment and whipping up ridiculously delicious chocolate chip cookies sans dairy? Now I call that a successful afternoon.