Double Peanut Butter Cookies

I made baller cookies on a day that I worked a double!!! It’s honestly really unexpected.  

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup shortening (Crisco is the only shortening you should even consider using when baking–off-brands make off cookies)
• ½ cup peanut butter, plus extra for filling
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon milk

1. In the work bowl of a stand mixer, sift flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Add in the sugar.  Using the paddle attachment and with the mixer running on low, cut in the shortening and the peanut butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 2 minutes. 
2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add in the corn syrup (spray your measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray to help the syrup slide out easier) and the milk.   Beat on medium speed until dough comes together, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Turn out dough onto a piece of parchment paper.  Gather all the crumbs and compress into a  12 x 2 inch log.  Fold the parchment over and around the log and roll the covered log back and forth on the counter-top until the log is a smooth, even, firmly compressed cylinder.  Wrap the dough cylinder up  in the parchment paper like a deli sandwich. Secure with sticky tape (good luck with this–parchment is non-stick for a reason). Place wrapped dough in the fridge for 30 minutes..
4. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
5. Cut dough into ¼ slices.  Place half of the slices onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.  Put a scant ½ teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of each slice.  Top with remaining slices.  Seal the edges of each cookie with the tines of a fork.
6. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until just golden around the edges.  Let rest on pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Pecan Sandies

Saturdays are hard!! I should consider starting a new rule that Saturday’s cookies shouldn’t take more than an hour to mix, bake, and blog about, or I will epically fail at this project. 

Also, check out this “personalized” add that my g-mail gave me!

Wow.

Pecan Sandies

Pecan Sandies

Yield: 60 Cookies

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light  brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1½ cups pecans, finely crushed, plus 60 nice looking halves for garnish

1. Combine flour and salt in a small bowl.  Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg yolk; beat well.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed.  Add in the flour mixture and stir on low speed until just incorporated. Fold in the finely crushed pecans.
3. Divide the dough in half.  Turn one half onto a sheet of parchment paper and shape it, rolling it inside the paper, into a log about 10 inches long by 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and slide inside  an empty paper towel tube to maintain the shape.  Refrigerate the dough logs for at least 2 hours and up to one day.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
5. Slice the dough into 1/3 inch thick rounds, rotating the log often so as not to flatten any one side.  Place dough rounds onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between each.  Place a pecan half in the center of each cookie.  Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges.  Let  cookies rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Spicy Icebox Oatmeal Crisps

Game night was a smashing success!  Granted, Leigh and I did lose to the boys at Taboo, but there will be another battle, and this time we will not fail.  Best of all, I was able to pawn off a whole bagful of cookies onto Leigh.  Just over a hundred left and more leaping out of the oven every day.   If you leave me your address I’ll send you a dozen or so at absolutely no cost to you! Seriously.  Who can say no to free cookies?

These cookies are very thin, very dark, and very crispy.  They’re amazing if you like that sort of thing (I hate them).

Spicy Icebox Oatmeal Crisps

Yield: 36 (I only got 24 and change)

Spicy Icebox Oatmeal Crisps

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
•  1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½ cups old-fashioned or quick cooking (not instant) rolled oats

1. Sift the flour with the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and black pepper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Add the vanilla and brown sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the egg and beat it in well.   Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, then stir in the oats.
3. Place the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a log about 9 inches long and 2 inches wide, using the plastic wrap to help you shape the dough.  Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator.)
4. Adjust two oven racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with cooking parchment or silicone liners.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into ¼-inch-thick-slices.  Place the slices on the baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are dark brown.  Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back once to ensure even baking.  Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets on racks.  Store airtight.  These stay fresh for several days.  

Recipe courtesy Greg Patent, Baking in America