Peanut Butter Lover's Cookie

I wish that I was one of those people that could eat anything. I wish also that when I baked cookies or cakes or even purchased them from the supermarket that I had that innate something that allowed you to perfectly portion treats without over indulging. What I am trying to say is that I have no self control...no ability to stop. An open package of Oreos (my true cookie love) can without much thought become an empty package. A plate of neatly stacked, homemade brownies, still warm from the oven, can become a plate of crumbs without as much as a second thought. It is for that reason that I seldom bake.

While creating irresistible treats is one of the pitfalls of baking for me, I do still enjoy baking. I love the feeling of success felt when a batch of cookies comes out just how it is supposed to. It is a great feeling when a pie recipe, once only made perfectly by my mother, comes out just how she would have made it (well, almost).

This past weekend I felt what I like to refer to as “the pull of the oven”. Not unlike the gravitational pull of the moon, the pull of the oven is the season, time of day or time of year, when for the taste of, the accomplishment of, or simply the smell of sweet “somethings” you are compelled to bake.

Given my temptation shortfall, I decided that I would bake something but it would be something that I probably would not eat. Consulting my (short) list of less-preferred baked goods, I fell upon peanut butter cookies. Not that I have anything against peanut butter-nothing tastes better on a Ritz cracker-I just for whatever reason, have never enjoyed peanut butter in baked goods. My other reason for choosing peanut butter-less self deprecating-is that I have a humongous jar of “natural” peanut butter that I purchased for my daughter to make peanut butter sandwiches for school which she has since decided is too “liquidy” and she would not use it (apparently she’s a Jif or Skippy only girl-who knew?).

Spatula in hand, I googled for peanut butter cookies looking for one that would use the most peanut butter. I found cookies that ranged from using as little as a 1/4 cup to as much as an entire jar of peanut butter. I ultimately settled on a recipe using an entire jar from AllRecipes.com. This cookie-not for the peanut butter faint of heart-packs a real peanutty flavor. Knowing that my kids would not like the crunch of added peanuts, I left out the listed 1 cup replacing it with milk chocolate chips for a “Reese’s-peanut-butter-cup-like” flavor. They came out so beautifully that yes… even I could not resist trying them. I really liked the texture; they were fluffy in the centers but slightly crisp at the edges. The taste was too peanut buttery for a non-peanut butter person such as me, but my kids really enjoyed them and recommend them highly.

My only critique of the preparation of these cookies is that when I went to make the cross marks using a fork, the fork kept sticking. Not being a regular peanut cookie baker I don't know if that's normal or not...anyway, just watch out for that! Also I followed the suggestion of one commenter on the Allrecipes site to chill the dough in a log that way you can slice and bake. It's a lot of dough though so you might want to make a few logs.

The Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies

from Allrecipes.com Submitted by Kevin Ryan

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1(18 ounce) jar Peanut Butter*

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped peanuts (which I replaced with milk chocolate chips)

*Since I was using the "natural" kind of peanut butter which is very liquidy, I only used about 16-17 ounces of peanut butter.

In a large bowl cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, yolk and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in the peanut butter. Sift together the flour baking powder and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally stir in the peanuts (or chocolate chips). Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. (I chose to line baking sheets with parchment paper-much easier!)

Roll dough into walnut sized balls.

Place on prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should look dry on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.