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sweet
treats:
peanut butter
cookies
by Yee-Fan Sun |
Chewy,
simply flavored and deeply satisfying, peanut butter cookies are one
of those classic sweets that appeal to just about everyone. My boy,
in fact, claims these are his favorite cookies to eat baked (the honor
for best unbaked cookie, in his opinion, goes to my chocolate
chip cookies, which he has a pesky tendency of gobbling up before they even
stand a chance of making it to the oven).
Because they’re so easy to make and just about universally beloved,
they’re a great cookie dough to make ahead and keep frozen; next time
you find yourself with an unexpected get-together to attend or folks
stopping over, fresh peanut butter cookies will be yours in a snap.
You can freeze all or part of the batch after shaping the cookies in
step 6; just pop the shaped unbaked cookies onto a baking sheet --
no need to leave much space between them at this point. Slide into
the freezer, and leave them for a few hours. When they’re frozen through,
transfer to a plastic baggie or container. Bake at the temperature
specified in the recipe, for an extra minute or two (keep an eye on
the cookies after 9 minutes).
classic
peanut butter cookies
This version is based on a recipe from my one of my favorite dessert
cookbooks, the Moosewood
Restaurant Book of Desserts
1 cup salted butter, softened at room temp
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsps. vanilla extract
3 cups white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
yields 3 dozen
cookies 1 Preheat the oven to 375F.
2 In a medium mixing bowl, dump in the flour, baking powder and baking
soda and stir it all up with a fork. Set this bowl aside for now.
3 Get yourself a
nice big mixing bowl. Slide the softened butter into this bowl. Add
the peanut butter and brown sugar. Beat with an electric
mixer until you have a nice, fluffy well-blended mix. (Yes, you can
do it by hand with a sturdy wooden spoon if you must, but it’ll be
a whole lot more effort.)
4 Working one at
a time, beat in each egg and mix until well incorporated. Stir in
the vanilla extract.
5 Scrape down the
sides of the bowl and stir some more to make sure everything’s well
mixed. Now, gently stir or fold in the dry flour
mixture into the wet mixture. Work until just mixed, making sure to
scrape down the sides a couple of times; do not overstir.
6 Use
a big spoon to scoop up balls of dough about 1.5” or so in diameter.
Place each
ball of
dough on your cookie sheet, leaving about 2” of
space between them (the cookies will expand quite a bit). Grab a fork,
then lightly press each ball of dough with the tines of the fork both
lengthwise and crosswise to make a criss-cross pattern; the flattened
disc should be fairly fat still, 3/4"-1” or so thick (flatten
to 1/2”-3/4” if you’re planning to freeze).
7 Slide the cookies
into the oven and bake for about 8 minutes, until just set. (As
with most cookies, you’ll want to underbake slightly
to ensure they’re soft and chewy.) Pull out the cookies and let them
rest for a couple of minutes on the sheet. After they’ve had this time
to firm up a bit more, transfer to a wire rack with a spatula, and
let them cool completely. Pile ‘em up on a plate and enjoy!
o
more
sweet treats for the holidays:
chocolate
chip cookies | oatmeal
raisin cookies | date
pinwheel cookies | lemony
stars | gingerbread
cookies | holiday
sugar cookies | chocolate
truffles
plus check out the recipe index !
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