Here, Kitty, Kitty...Just in time for a Study Bake? You're getting the Sweet Melissa Baking Book! Please send me your mailing address and we'll get this sent to you just in time to bake during the Holidays. Thank you to everyone for participating in the giveaway. I'm holding off on the rest of the gifts under the Delicious Tree for something huge...
We've given away a copy of the The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, but don't let that stop you from getting a copy yourself, or making Melissa Murphy's Peanut Butter cookies from the book. They're not bad. You know. For peanut butter.
Some Foods Are NeverBad™
There is a category of foods in The Delicious Life that I call NeverBad™. No matter how "bad" they are, they are never bad. French Fries. Potato Chips. Pizza. Vodka on the rocks.
These are foods that you love so much, of which you’ve tried every different variety, that you know how to make, have learned the history, could do a half hour episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown right after you do a half hour episode of The Secret Life of with Jim O’Connor that you could almost call yourself a connoisseur.
However, you can’t really be a connoissuer expressly because you love it so much that even when you are faced with French fries from McDonald's, they taste pretty fucking good to you because they're French fries and French fries are never bad even when they're McDonald's.
That was a bad example. Every French fry connoisseur would agree that McDonald's French fries are, in fact, the standard against which all other French fries should be measured.
You get my point, though, right?
Cookies Are NeverBad™
The point is that cookies are in the category of NeverBad™. Let's ease into this with store-bought cookies. Store-bought cookies are perfect every time because a team 41 scientists have perfected the formula recipe and the cookies are made by robots so they are perfect, every batch, every time, every box. The only time store-bought cookies might be bad is when they get to your house and you let them either go stale or grow mold. But store-bought cookie will never go stale nor grow mold because there are enough chemicals in each cookie to keep it as fresh as a summer's eve that you're probably preserving your own GI tract until 2050 just by eating it.
What about homemade cookies? There are many more uncontrolled variables in homemade cookies that could result in a bad cookie, but really, unless there was some gross error in the manufacture of a homemade cookie like unknowingly using rancid butter or accidentally adding 2 cups of salt instead of sugar or God forbid, raisins instead of chocolate chips, homemade cookies will never be bad. They might be a little too salty, a little too sweet, slightly underbaked or slightly over burnt, but if they are in front of you, if you've ventured to take a bite, you're going to eat it. In fact, homemade cookies even have an advantage over storebought cookies in that they are...homemade.
Peanut Butter is Bad, But It's Still a Cookie
Cookies – all of them – are never bad. Even peanut butter. I never grew up with peanut butter, don't have even a childhood nostalgia for peanut butter, can't stand the texture of peanut butter, am not particularly fond of the fragrance of peanut butter, cringe at the thought of how fatty fattening peanut butter is.
But a peanut butter cookie is still a cookie.
And I will eat it.
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies from the The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
Makes 2 dozen cookies
Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients
½ cup smooth peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Peanut Butter Cookie Directions
Position the rack in the top and bottom third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the peanut butter with the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the egg.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that everything is combined evenly.
Scoop dough by the rounded tablespoonful and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets, and press down slightly. Using a fork dipped in flour, press down on the cookies first one way and then the other to form an “X” pattern, creating the cross hatch effect. (The cookies should now measure approximately 2 inches in diameter.) Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Overbaking will cause these chewy cookies to become crunchy, so try to avoid it.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, they can be frozen wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for up to 1 month. Do not unwrap before defrosting.
melissa vh says
i like peanut butter a ton and i keep meaning to add chocolate chips in the process but always forget. nothing is better than pb and chocolate. that's why there are so many variations!!! yums
chris chang says
love love love snickerdoodles! of course i love any cookie, but if i had a choice, it would be snickerdoodles!
mm i wanna bake some right now (also gotta find a good recipe) tried a couple but not exactly what I wanted...here's one to try:
http://marzipanmom.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-days-till-christmas-snickerdoodles.html
Dasha says
I love Linzer cookies! The more jam, the better =)
kelly says
My favorite cookie is Carol's Cookies Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry--sounds like it would be overwhelming, but so delicious
http://www.carolscookies.com/the_cookies.html
nithya at hungrydesi says
my favorite cookie is a toss up btw girl scout samoas and chewy chocolate chip cookies.
Sarah J. Gim says
nithya: I was wondering -- waiting to see, in fact -- who would be the first person to name not just a non homemade cookie, but any store branded cookie. You have one upped by picking a Girl Scout cookie. Good show!
[email protected] says
Here's my fave (at the moment): Raspberry Oatmeal Bars, oh yeah: http://crispywaffle.com/?p=146
Kitty says
Ah, I love cookies, freebies, and Tastespotting! Taking a break right now from studying for my final tomorrow morning, I came across this site because it was the first picture on Tastespotting! :)
My favorite cookie is Starbucks' chewy yet crispy oatmeal raisin, a heavy weight champion of 400+ calories with a tendency to drain my wallet.
Danielle says
I'm obsessed with these pomegranate and white chocolate chip cookies. They are seasonal and super easy to make. I found the recipe on Tastespotting http://kaceyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/12/pomegranate-white-chocolate-chip.html
Rita says
Damn, these cookies sound great! :)
My favourite cookies are crunchy double chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm.
Jodie says
My favorite cookie (if I had to choose only one...) has got to be dump it all drop cookies, also known as Monster cookies. Basically it's a combination of the top 3 cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter. YUM!
JEP says
This time of year, I prefer a snickerdoodle.
dee says
I have macaron madness!!! http://tiny.cc/lKVWI
myteebay says
Stroopwafels! Here's the recipe I use: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/stroopwafels-recipe
Fair amount of trouble, and you have to have a pizzelle iron, but oh are they worth it!
Barb says
My favorite cookie is a molasses sugar cookie made from my grandmother's recipe. The taste of them scream "Holidays" to me, and I only make them in December.
Anne says
The molasses crinkles from Molly Katzen's "Still Life With Menu." Yum.
mochihead says
Sweet potato cookies
Avryan says
Good old fashioned oatmeal raisin!
Lauren says
delicious snickerdoodles drive me wild
pumpkinpie says
triple chocolate threat cookies, from the Pastry Queen cookbook!
LeeYong says
Thanks for posting a giveaway... I would have to say my favorite is a chocolate shortbread - rolled thinned and made with a semi chocolate filling. YUM! Have a great Monday...
Jessica says
Peanut Butter, Butterscotch, and Fig cookies are amazing.
http://www.natalieskillercuisine.com/2009/08/peanut-butter-butterscotch-fig-cookies.html
Also, anything with pistachios and dried fruit or toffee is a winner to me!
Ella says
my Nanny's shortbread, I have tried to replicate them, even using her recipe- but I haven't even come close. A classic butter, flour mix with a touch of rice flour and shortening to make them unique- and I can eat a box in one sitting, the perfect balance of sweet, buttery and salty (use salted butter!)
megan says
My favorite Christmas cookie is peanut butter balls :) so good....sorry they also have peanut butter in them.
http://whatmegansmaking.blogspot.com/2009/12/peanut-butter-balls.html
Danielle says
Salty oat cookies with dark chocolate chunks. To DIE for.
Jana says
Toll House Chocolate Chip, hands down!
Alexandra says
My mother's walnut crescent cookies that she only makes for Christmas once a year. I crave them. I love them. They are my favorite cookie ever.
I've got the recipe for it but it's an old, old one ;) Never seen it on any site before. She made some adaptions to it to personalize it and her method of mixing things together is really out there BUT IT WORKS SO GOOD. I might post the recipe sometime. :P
So glad it's almost Christmas. Mmm. Crescent cookies.
Katie @ goodLife {eats} says
I love to bake and I love cookies! White chocolate macadamia are my favorite.
Claire says
Snickerdoodles! Fun to say, and fun to eat!