Monday, August 29, 2016

Peanut Butter Cookies

The idea of baking some peanut butter cookies popped into my head, and wouldn't leave! So I dug out Alice Medrich's book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies, and baked a batch. Yum!





Ingredients

6.75 ounces unbleached AP flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
8 Tbs. softened, unsalted butter 
1.75 ounces dark brown sugar
5.25 ounces granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
11.25 ounces peanut butter

Method

Mixing the Dough Day

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Using your stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars until smooth, about 1 minute. In a small bowl, gently stir together the egg and vanilla, then add it to the butter/sugar mixture along with the peanut butter. Mix until blended. Remove the bowl from the stand. Add the flour and stir until combined - make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Bake Day

Position the racks of the oven to the top and bottom thirds. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment. Fill a tablespoon with dough, then roll it into a ball. It should measure about 1 to 1-1/4 inch. Measure the weight of that ball on your kitchen scale. My dough balls weighed .7 gram. Proceed to form the rest of the dough into .7 gram balls (or whatever weight you've selected). Place balls on the baking pan about 2 inches apart. With the back of a fork, press a cross hatch into each ball. These cookies do not spread very much, so it's okay to flatten them down a bit. Top with a small sprinkle of sea salt if you like. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, rotating the pans midway through, until cookies are golden brown on the bottom. 

Cool on a rack.

Enjoy!