21 January 2007

REALLY fabulous peanut butter cookies for cheaters

I have been CRAVING peanut butter cookies during the last few months of this pregnancy -- real peanut butter cookies like my grandmother has made in the past. I've not however made any because I find cookie-making to be a tedious pain in the butoushka most of the time.
Last week, I bought a Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix and my dear love mixed them up and made them for me. He did a fine job mixing, but they weren't as I remembered them -- not peanut-y enough and certainly not that great mix of chewy and crumbly that a truly fine peanut butter cookie should be.
It occurred to me sometime this week that I could maybe modify the mix, though, and come up with something pretty close. Tonight I did and besides being really quick, these are SO good, probably mainly due to the fact that with my additions, both purposeful and accidental, I probably quadrupled or quintupled the fat content.
Peanut Butter Cookies
3/4 cup peanut butter
6 T butter, softened
2 eggs
1 T vanilla
1 pkg. peanut butter cookie mix
Optional ingredients -- about 2 doz. Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts or miniature cups or Hershey's Kisses, if you're a purist, or Dove Dark Chocolate Treasures, if you're an indulgent gourmand, unwrapped and uneaten while they sit beckoningly on the counter
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream together peanut butter, butter, eggs and vanilla til well blended and slightly fluffy. Add peanut butter mix slowly til mixed together. Make ping-pong sized balls.
For traditional pb cookies, roll in sugar and then flatten with a glass dipped in sugar or make crosshatches from the tine prints of a fork dipped in sugar. Bake about 6-8 minutes or til very lightly browned on edges.
For blossoms -- just pop in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Remove and place unwrapped choco delicacy in the center, pressing down slightly to flatten the cookie. Force yourself to let the cookie cool before you gobble it up. And pace yourself -- they're pretty rich.
Should make about 2 doz cookies. Our batch was 22 today, though some got a little big, but they look nice with the peanut butter hearts in them. (I'm telling myself that I'm going to freeze a dozen for Valentine's Day. We all know I'm fooling myself, but for now, it's a nice lie.)

No comments: