Peanut Butter Sandwich

My most requested cookie to date! Peanut butter cookies sandwiched with peanut butter frosting. The little neighbor girl said, "I can't stop thinking about those cookies!"

Yield: 5-6 dozen regular cookies, or 2.5 - 3 sandwiches. Unless you like the raw dough, then make that 2 dozen sandwiches.

Source: Our Best Bites website, linked below. My neighbor sent me the link. Thanks a lot, Jen!

Oh joy, oh rapture!! The admittedly un-sophisticated crowd I asked for opinions of this cookie gave it an average score of 12 out of 10. (Most of them were younger than 12 years old.) I have to agree, though; they are seriously amazing.

My friend sent me this link, which is where I found the recipe. You can also find a link to Our Best Bites on my right sidebar. I'll give you the recipe here, too, just for kicks.

1 cup butter flavored shortening

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups flour

And the frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

4 cups powdered sugar

4-5 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Here's a couple things I learned during the creation of this dough:

First, this isn't my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe of all time. If, I mean when, I make these cookies again, I will use the recipe I used for the Peanut Butter Stuffed cookies, which is my all-time favorite. (Well, all-time favorite for peanut butter cookies. How can a girl really be pinned down to just ONE favorite cookie? :D )

Second, I will admit that I used dark brown sugar in this dough, but only because I had it on hand and had no idea what else to do with it. I really don't think it makes a huge difference though.

Third, I was too lazy to roll the dough into cute little balls and cover them in sugar. I just plopped the dough on the cookie sheet and used the fork to do the cute little cross-hatch pattern that is the signature of peanut butter cookies. I actually wish I had at least rolled them into balls first. I'm sure they would have turned out cuter, closer to actually round, and more professional looking. Mine looked okay, not as bad as a 5 year old making them, but maybe a 10 year old. For example, this cookie turned out a little screwy.

What can you do with a cookie like that?

Maybe just a little bite...

Or two...

The Best Bites author says she made hers small, and baked them at 375 degrees for 6 minutes. They must have been really small! Mine were pretty small, and I had to give them 8 minutes to get them done enough for my liking. I agree with her, though, that it is a huge shot of sugar all at once, and a smaller cookie is probably a good idea.

On to the frosting. This recipe makes enough frosting to feed a small army. Half the frosting would probably have been enough. As you know, I'm not big on measuring things for my frosting. I did measure everything except the powdered sugar this time. I put the sugar in last, adding and stirring until it's a good consistency. I don't think mine had 4 cups in it, though. If I had to guess, I would say it was closer to 2 1/2 or 3 cups. I may have to make oreo cookies now, to get rid of the extra frosting!

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Peanut Butter Stuffed

Yield: about 3 1/2 dozen

Source: The Clumbsy Cookie blog, the Cookie Madness blog, and the Pillsbury website. The links are included below.

Oh, how I love a peanut butter cookie. I love peanut butter in just about anything, even (and maybe especially) ice cream. Yum. The other day, I found this fabulous recipe on this really fun cookie blog called The Clumbsy Cookie. All I did was look at the pictures, and I was in love. So, I was pretty excited to try them, I don't mind telling you.

Okay, so I started with this peanut butter cookie recipe, which I found at the above link, but which actually comes from this blog, Cookie Madness.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky (less sweet peanut butters work best)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted flour —if you don’t sift, use 1 1/3 cup

I normally don't keep dark brown sugar around. But, as it turns out, when I went to make the cookies, I didn't have any brown sugar at all around, so I ran to the store. I honestly don't know how much of a difference it makes to have dark brown rather than light brown sugar. I'll let you experiment with that on your own. I can tell you, however, that this cookie dough is amazing. I had to physically stop myself from eating it.

Here is where the cookie gets interesting.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of peanut butter with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. It should look (and taste) like a drier, more crumbly, but sweeter version of peanut butter.

Then, chop up a couple big squares of dark chocolate into little bits. I used a nice 70% dark chocolate bar, and 2 squares was enough for about half the batch.

Also, mix together 1 tsp cinnamon with 1/4 cup sugar.

Now that your preparations are made, it's time to get serious. Start by washing your hands. You might want to have a hand soap you love nearby, because seriously, I think I washed mine at least 25 times today. Start with a little ball of dough, and smash it flat in your hand.

Add in the chopped chocolate...

And a little glob of peanut butter/powdered sugar...

And wrap the edges around into a nice neat little package.

Now roll the whole thing in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on a cookie sheet for baking.

I have to admit, I was a little leery about the cinnamon and peanut butter together, but as it turns out, there was no need to fear. It's a delicious combination. Those of you who are actually reading through all this and looking at the links might have also noted that I left out the peanuts. The funny thing about that is that while my family is picky about nuts, they do actually eat peanuts. But I don't really like them in the peanut butter cookie. It's a quirk, I know. I say, it's your choice.

The recipe calls for baking at 375 degrees for 7-12 minutes. I think that is quite a large window of baking time. I baked mine for about 10 minutes, and they turned out beautifully. They were slightly crispy on the outside, with all this lovely and gooey chocolaty and peanut-buttery yumminess inside.

I did bake some up plain, without the filling inside, and honestly, I wish I hadn't. What was I thinking? Leaving chocolate out would make the cookie better?

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No Bake Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Source: I have no idea. I've been making these since I was a kid, and so has everyone else I know.

I asked my kids what kind of dessert they wanted, and two of them voted for no-bake cookies. I was surprised. They always seem so, I don't know, mundane or something. It's like they're not a real cookie. But, sometimes quick and easy is a nice change, so I went for it.

The truly nice thing about this cookie is that you can make it very quickly on the stove, and it never goes in the oven at all. Hence the name, no-bake. Frankly, I feel a little silly making this post at all, since I'm sure all of you made this cookie at some point in time, and it was probably back when you were 10 years old.

Usually, I opt for the no-bake chocolate cookie, but since I recently shopped the case lot sales, I went for the no-bake peanut butter cookies. (I have 12 small jars of peanut butter in my storage room. Well, 11 1/2.) I'll include both recipes here, though, since they are almost identical.

PEANUT BUTTER:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

CHOCOLATE:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 T. cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup coconut

3 cups quick oats

You start by melting the butter. Add in the milk and sugar, and the cocoa if you are making the chocolate variety, and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for a minute or so, and then remove it from the heat. If you are making the peanut butter kind, this is the point where you add it. Stir it in and let it melt. If you are making the chocolate kind, add the vanilla now.

Have I mentioned that I love this Pampered Chef measuring cup for this job? It is perfect for messy jobs like peanut butter or shortening. You choose how much to put in, and then just push it right out into your bowl, or pot, as the case may be. I don't use it much, but for peanut butter, nothing else will do.

Next, just mix in the rest of the ingredients, which is nuts, coconut, and oats. A word about that. We're big coconut fans here. I love it. I also think walnuts are great in the chocolate cookies, although I wouldn't put them in the peanut butter kind. However, I know that some people are really opposed to coconut and some opposed to nuts. It's fine to leave them out, but you do have to make up the difference by adding more oats. It's not an exact ratio, either, meaning that 1 cup of coconut does not necessarily equal 1 cup of oats. Just add more oats until the consistency is right. Not enough oats, and the cookie will be gooey and stick to the pan, your fingers, and everything else it touches. Too many oats, and the cookie will fall apart and be very dry. I am intimately acquainted with both of these situations, having messed up in both directions in the past.

When we made these as kids, we always lined a cookie sheet with wax paper and dropped them onto it. Now, I prefer to put them into my mini-muffin pan. I always spray it pretty generously first with some kind of non-stick spray. Either way you do it, drop them in little globs and put the pan in the freezer for a little while. They'll be ready to eat before you can finish creating a blog post!