Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

Last Friday night, after I had returned from my friend's house, I found myself at home, eating Chunky Peanut Butter Company Peanut Butter, from the jar, with a spoon. And then it hit me. I had done the same thing the previous Friday night, and the one before that. But really, who hasn't?

These peanut butter cookies however, serve as a sweet and suitable substitute. I find that my biggest problem with peanut butter cookies is that they are too crumbly--they turn to sawdust after the slightest bite. To combat this complication, I use 100% brown sugar, and I am 95% sure that you will agree with me that these are better. They remain somewhere in the middle between ultra-crumbly and ultra-chewy--they are slightly chewy, but the texture isn't so far from the traditional.

Also I think that plain peanut butter cookies are, well, plain, and that their flavor is heightened immensely by the addition of either a mini Reese's peanut butter cup, or a piece of good dark chocolate, but not both--I tried using both on my latest batch and found it to be too much. The chocolate from the Reese's and the dark chocolate conflicted. Choose one or the other. Also, though there is some salt from the peanut butter, I add a sprinkle of fleur de sel on top, just for kicks.

Otherwise my cookies are pretty basic, nothin too fancy. I hope that they may be for you, as they are for me, an outlet for my peanut-butter passion.

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1 1/4 Cup Dark Brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Reese's peanut butter cups or dark chocolate for topping
Fleur De Sel

1. In the bowl of a kitchenaid, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low speed for a whole minute. Remove to a bowl.

2. Mix together the butter, peanut butter and sugar and beat for 5 minutes (creaming correctly really isn't a huge deal here).

3. Add the egg and vanilla.

4. Slowly add the flour.

5. Scoop onto plates, top with Reese's and freeze for 30 minutes.

6. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. DONT OVERBAKE!

7. Enjoy!

Sweet, spicy peanut butter

If you're looking to economize, doing more yourself (not just terms of food), is a great place to start. Greater appreciation for the food your preparing is a common side-effect. I've talked about this before (breaking down whole chickens rather than buying their parts, curing your own meats etc.) but making peanut butter is unlike these other examples in that it really requires no knowledge or skills on your part, making it an extremely easy way to cut out the middle man. For the most basic butter, toss some plain peanuts in your processor and watch em go. Feel free to add embellishments as you please (honey, maple syrup, maybe a little peanut oil to thin it out etc).

I roasted these peanuts with some salt, butter and brown sugar then threw em' in the food processor with some cayenne, paprika, and smoked black pepper to make kind of a bbq peanut butter.

Natural Chunky Peanut Butter, banana, dark chocolate

Actually,

That's what I call a sandwich.

What I'm up to

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me for the weblog awards. It's nice to see that I've got some awesome readers who care about the blog. I came in fourth- not too shabby if you ask me.

Recently, I've been experimenting in many different ways, most of them involving sous vide. I just took out a flank steak that had been cooking at 131 for 24 hours. I'm gonna sear that off and see how it tastes.

In the avocado episode of his show (also my favorite show) Good Eats, Alton Brown claims that the enzyme responsible for the browning of avocados due to oxidation, can be "shut off" by cooking the avocados at 104 F for a few hours. He claims this temperature will not compromise the flavor or texture, but will kill that oxidation enzyme. I still have a little more testing to do but it's not looking good for Mr. Brown (or the avocados).

I'm working on developing the ultimate chocolate chip cookies for my taste buds. I like a chewy, texturally pleasing cookie, and I'm using some of the principles (speak of the devil) Alton Brown uses in his cookie show. I think I'm pretty darn close but theres one more variable I'm anxious to test.

Lastly, I'm experimenting with peanut butters. Right now I'm attempting a "BBQ" peanut butter by roasting the peanuts with traditional bbq spices then grinding them with brown sugar. I'd take that over Skippy any day.