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Peanut Butter Snuggle Bumps

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

What better way to end a long day at work than with some melt-in-your-mouth cookies? I received a text from Blake at work today saying merely, “Cookies ?” How could I refuse?

For years I tried out low-fat recipes and substituting ingredients, but I’ve found that very few work as well as the old standby fatty-face delicious cookie recipes.

The following is adapted from good old Joy.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

Put an oven rack in the next-to-top slot or 2 slots down and grease a couple of cookie sheets, whatever sort you have. If they are dark in color, just realize the baking time might be slightly shorter or that your bottoms will be a bit more brown. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ingredients

Dry

  • 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1.5 cups all purpose flour)
  • 1.25 teaspoons baking powder (I used double-acting because it’s all I had, and that seemed to work just as well.)
  • 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
  • 0.25 teaspoon salt

Wet

  • 0.25 cup canola oil
  • 2/3 cup peanut butter (really measure this as close as possible. I know it is a pain in the ass to put sticky peanut butter in a measuring cup and then somehow get it out again, but if you add too much or too little, the cookies will be the wrong consistency. I recommend using a rubber spatula thingie to help get it in and out of a measuring cup)
  • 1.5 sticks softened butter (I soften it in the pre-heating oven on one of my baking pans, which automatically greases the pan with the bit that melts off)
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar (if yours has gotten lumpy, sift it before adding)
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar

Secondary Wet Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for breakfast or stir it in with some leftover rice while you reheat it with some low-sodium soy sauce and veggies to make healthy fried rice!)
  • 2.5 teaspoons vanilla (I use less these days. I LOVE the taste of vanilla extract, but Blake always says, “these cookies taste too much like vanilla,” so I have cut back. They are still good.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl (flours, baking powder/soda, salt.) In another larger bowl, use a hand or stand mixer to beat the Primary wet ingredients on medium speed until the froth and are very well blended (oil, peanut butter, butter, sugars.) Add the secondary wet ingredients (egg + extra yolk, vanilla) and beat until just well combined.

Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture until well blended (smooth consistency all over.) Let it stand for a few minutes while you stare at the wall or do something more interesting like eat a piece of cheese or check your Facebook page to see if anyone loves you.

Balls of Cookie Dough, Ready to Be Shaped With a Fork

Pinch off bits of dough and form 1 inch balls, rolling them until they are smooth and round in your hands. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Use a fork to create hatch-marks at two 90 degree angles, pressing the cookie down into a round form with plaid indentations.

Shaping Peanut Butter Cookies

Making Hatch Marks

Making Cross-Hatch Marks

Cookies Ready to Bake

Bake 1 sheet at a time for about 10 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through baking if you are anxious or if your oven is funky or if you want to be more like Joy of the famous Joy of Cooking.

Remove from oven when slightly browned at edges.

Let cool a small amount of time and then cool on racks if you have them, or evenly spaced on out cold plates if you don’t have those fancy-smancy racks.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield equals this many:

Yield

Enjoy After Dinner. Or instead of dinner. (See Seinfeld.)

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

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