[Cookie 063] Peanut Butter Cookies

Quick! Don't look now, but I'm making a speedy cover up of my last disastrous post! Avert your eyes--do not look at the horrid toffee-laden blondie brick that resembled some sort of ancient artifact that you would find in the Egyptian wing at the Met. Look at this! Look! Better! Tastier! Peanut Butter Cookies!

Now, I had hoped to make this post a Valentine's-themed post, but since that holiday gives me the creeps/I'm bitter/I didn't make a "Valentines-y" cookie, I just thought I'd post this recipe instead. But honestly, any cookie you make is perfect for Valentine's Day, because anything homemade and sweet will totally get you some. ...Get you some high-fives and hugs. That's all you get.

But wait, not everyone likes Peanut Butter Cookies! Well too bad. If you don't like them, it means you are crazy. Or it means that your taste buds are inadequate (side note: I'm reading Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste [I should be reading it now, and not blogging, but whatever] for my Food and Aesthetics class, and he's basically making me fall even further in love with food and eating. I recommend you read this book, ASAP. And he says that when 2 people eat the same dish and one person likes it and one doesn't, it often means that the other person just doesn't have as many taste buds. Okay, that was a bad generalization of his writings, but it better illustrates my point. You should read it, seriously!).

Aaaaaanyway, that was a long parenthetical. What I want to get across is that these cookies are really good. They're like the shortbread version of Peanut Butter Cookies. These aren't your traditionally chewy, squishy Peanut Butter Cookies; they are crumbly and sandy and buttery and really nice. That is, permitting that you don't burn your first batch like I did. I don't know what's wrong with my oven, but it's totally lost its mind. My first batch came out black as the night sky, and emitted so much smoke that I literally had to set the cookies to cool outside my window, on top of my air-conditioner. Yeah. Don't let these babies burn.

I hope you're keeping up with me. I keep getting onto these long tangents, probably because I'm just trying to procrastinate on my homework. Here, let me summarize this post in one sentence: These cookies are really yummy and perfect for your lover or yourself or your Super Bowl Party that you already had.

So, make em! And while you're at it, fix my oven! Or, better yet, buy me a kitchen timer. I DON'T HAVE ONE! I know, they're like $5, but I'm cheap and lazy and a college student (redundant, I know). Whatever, I'll stop rambling if you bake these. Thanks!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for flattening cookies
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter (crunchy can also be used)
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and baking soda into a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy; about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until well combined. Mix in vanilla and then peanut butter. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in peanuts.
3. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets lines with parchment paper, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a galss in flour, tapping off excess and use it to flatten balls slightly. Firmly press fork tines into each dough ball to make a cross-hatch pattern.
4. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until centers are firm and edges are lightly browned, about 25 minutes. transfer cookies on parchment to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 1/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 3.5/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yes! A pleasant cookie for pleasant people.

{Pairings}
Drink: Chocolate Soy Milk! Oh god yes.

Song: Happy Valentine's Day -- Outkast
Activity: Reading Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste