Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Soft, sweet and salty old-fashioned peanut butter cookie that stays soft when stored in air-tight container. This recipe yields approximately 2 dozen bits of goodness. The important thing here is not to over-bake the cookies. Don't be fooled - they will not really look done after 8-10 minutes, but trust me - they are. (Plus, they continue to bake a bit after you take them out of the oven.)


Ingredients:

1 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. softened butter
1/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat mat.

Cream together the peanut butter, butter and sugars using a stand mixer.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour. baking soda and salt. Add this to the butter mixture 1/3 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Roll the dough into 1 to 2 inch balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place on prepared cookie sheet. Make criss-cross pattern in cookies using a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or just until the tops begin to crack. DO NOT OVERBAKE! They will still be quite light in color, and the bottoms will not have browned. Let them cool on the cookie sheets until they have firmed up, then remove to wire rack. (My oven=9 minutes)

healthy cookies?

Dear Kristin,

Yes, indeed we are very proud of you for passing all of your exams! It's been a very long road for you, and I don't blame you a bit for going the take-out route to help you through. But now that you are finished, and now that the holidays are over, it's time to settle down to some more healthy eating. So, you may ask, why am I posting a cookie recipe here? Well, I like to believe that these cookies are a somewhat healthier option - well, at least they are vegan friendly, and all of my vegan friends are healthy, so these must be healthy too, right? Sure - I'll just keep telling myself that as I scarf them down.

I guess these cookies seem healthier because they don't contain any butter or eggs, and they do contain good old fashioned oats. Whether they are healthier is probably debatable because they do contain a hefty amount of oil and sugar. They are also highly addictive, so you may end up eating three or four in one sitting - definitely not a healthy habit. These are loosely based on Giada De Laurentiis' Spiced Pumpkin-Raisin Cookies - I just fiddled with the spices and used diced apples instead of raisins. While, like any cookie, they are wonderful with a tall cold one (milk, that is), they are really amazing with a nice cup of tea on a snowy afternoon, making you just feel warm & toasty all over.

appleumpkin cookies

2 c. flour
1 1/3 c. oats
2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. raw sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup apple, small dice

Combine flour, oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the sugar, canned pumpkin, oil, syrup & vanilla. Whisk well to combine. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture. Add the apples.

Drop by generous tablespoons onto parchment lined baking sheets, about 1" apart. Flatten each cookie slightly and sprinkle with additional raw sugar.

Bake in a 350 degree oven 17 to 20 minutes - they should be slightly firm to the touch. Cool slightly before transferring to racks.

nagging and bragging

Dear Kristin,

Okay, okay, okay! Since when did you become the mom & start nagging me to do my homework? You are right, though - we really should be a little more diligent when it comes to our posts.

Even though Christmas has come and gone, we have only begun to experience true winter weather here. There is not much snow, but the wind-chills are hovering around 0, and we are all hunkering down in our nests. Speaking of Christmas...

This recipe comes from my mother. Now, we all know that your grandmother was not a great cook. She was, however, a pretty good baker. Every Christmas we gorged ourselves on at least 10 different kinds of cookies. There were the obligatory cut-outs - which were the only ones my sister and I were allowed to help with - but there were also cookies of a much higher order. She also made taffy treats, which looked like miniature candy apples, pfeffernusse, and candy cane cookies which were simply a chilled and dyed almond dough shaped into a twist and sprinkled with peppermint candies. Mom always was trying new cookie recipes at Christmas, and luckily for us, most of them were worth repeating year after year. This was especially true of these Cream Cheese Fold-overs.

For years I've tried to make these cookies like my mom did. I just could not get them right. My fold-overs ended up looking like little Barbie burritos. They would not stay closed, and the jam filling would all leak out, leaving me with little to show for my efforts except for a big sloppy mess on my counters and cookie sheets covered with burned on goop. You, however, would not let me give up on these. You discovered the secret of these cookies when I couldn't. After you and I made these at Thanksgiving, I felt utterly empowered, and went straight home and tried to bake them again. Finally! Success! I'm so glad you kept nudging me to keep trying these - so, yes - thank goodness you are somewhat of a nag! (luv 'ya!)

cream cheese fold-overs


1 c. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
white of 1 egg
assorted jams such as raspberry, mint or blueberry


Cream butter and cream cheese together until well blended. Blend flour and salt into cream cheese-butter mixture. Shape dough into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill several hours.

Generously sprinkle work surface with confectioner's sugar. Roll out dough on prepared surface to a 1/8" thickness. Cut dough into trapezoid shapes, about 4" long, with wide end about 3" wide and narrow end about 1" wide. Put about 1/4 tsp. jam in center of cookie. Brush narrow end of cookie with egg white. Fold narrow end of cookie up and over the jam filling, and secure underneath the wide end. (This sounds much more complicated than it is - the next time I make these I promise to take a video & post it here.)

Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 F. for 10 minutes, until puffed and slightly tan.

Comfy's note: these are best when they are fresh out of the oven, but be warned - once you have one, the rest seem to magically disappear into thin air!

resolutions

Dear Mom,

I'm sitting here enjoying a rather strong beer while my cookies are baking away in the oven.  That is what the holidays are all about.  "Beer and cookies???" you may ask, no-no not just beer and cookies, but everything I've been eating the past week, a.k.a. over-indulgence.  Yes, spending time with the family is great, chestnuts roasting on a open fire and jack frost nipping at your nose and all, but what it's really about is the fact that I ate some type of pork for the last 6 days in a row.  Bacon, slow-roasted pork shank, all-day Italian-style pork, pulled pork (from two different restaurants) and, of course, ham! 

So now it is time for the sweet stuff, and considering that John and I have made a resolution to eat healthier in the New Year, I have to get it all out now!  So that means beer and cookies.  Right now I've got a batch of cowboy cookies in the oven.  (You know that cowboys would not have milk with their cookies, they would have beer!)  I went with cowboy cookies because I wanted to prepare us for the upcoming year of healthy eating, so we get the sinfulness of the chocolate, but the heart-healthy oats at the same time.  Also, this is my reduced-fat, reduced-sugar cookie recipe, which as any cookie-lover knows, you can eat twice as many! (Three-times as many on a holiday!)

cowboy cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. molasses
1/4 butter, softened
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Place the 1/2 cup apple sauce in a strainer over a bowl and stain the liquid from the apple sauce for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine flour through cinnamon in a bowl with a mix.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the drained apple sauce and the rest of the ingredients through the egg.  Blend together in the mixer until combined.  Slowly add dry ingredients. 

Place cookie dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake cookies for 10 minutes, until almost set.  Let cool on the baking sheet 2-3 minutes and then transfer to wire racks.