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The Food Maven Diary
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01/08/2002 Archived Entry: "More Peanut Butter Cookies"
It seems that when something catches your attention, you can’t escape it. I’ve become obsessed with peanut butter cookies this past week. (See yesterday’s Maven’s Diary entry.) Maybe the first week in January should be renamed “Peanut Butter Cookie Week.” They are, after all, the perfect snack for this type of weather. They are rich and filling, and are made with common pantry ingredients. There is no need to trek out into the cold or snow gathering ingredients for these cookies. I’m sure you’ll have everything you need to make these recipes in your very own cupboard. In fact, the following is a recipe I gave in What to Cook When You Think There’s Nothing in the House to Eat. It’s simple as can be.
Classic Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes about 5 dozen
This is the peanut butter cookie I grew up with, a recipe that appeared on the Skippy peanut butter label in the early 1950s. It is still one of my favorite cookies, probably because other than some memorably green butter cookies my mother pressed out on a rainy afternoon, these are the only cookies I remember her making. It’s not that I had a cookie-deprived childhood. Don’t feel sad for me. We had an excellent bakery right around the corner.
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the butter or margarine and the peanut butter until well blended and smooth.
Beat in both the sugars until well blended.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture and beat until well blended.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, and as you roll them, place them on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a crosshatch pattern on the dough. (This mark has, because of this recipe, become the classic identifier of almost all peanut butter cookies.)
Bake for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Remove with a spatula and cool thoroughly on a wire rack. As good as the cookies are warm, they are even better (and gain crispiness) when cooled. And they continue to improve for a few days. Store them in a tin.
Here are two more peanut butter recipes that were sent to me this week by a listener to Food Talk. She found them in old issues of Gourmet and Bon Appétit. I haven’t tested them, but I consider these to be reliable sources.
Mom-Mom Fritch's Peanut Butter Cookies
from Gourmet - February 1999, Sugar and Spice Column
Makes about 70 cookies
1 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and, using a spoon or spatula, mix until smooth.
Use a level teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Roll into a ball. Place on an ungreased baking dish and flatten each ball into a 1 1/2-inch diameter disc with the tines of a fork to make a cross-hatched pattern.
Bake for 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before serving.
Peanut Butter Cookies
from Bon Appétit – September 1999, Too Busy to Cook Column
Makes about 24 cookies
1 cup super chunky peanut butter
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and, using a spoon or spatula, mix until smooth.
Use a level tablespoon of dough for each cookie. Roll into a ball. Place on an ungreased baking dish and flatten each ball into a 1/2-inch thick disc spacing them at least 2 inches apart.
Bake for about 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before serving.
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