I haven't written much over the past few years - I figured I should get back to
my roots and do some food blogging. I intend to write something every day, so it is likely to stay pretty pedestrian and home-cooky. I know it's not February yet, but I made some cookies today and wanted to be sure I get going on this project.
Peanut butter is a big part of my diet. I love it, but have a hard time finding peanut butter cookies that aren't too sweet. Maybe it's time I develop them. I'm starting with
this recipe, from Simply Recipes. In the comments, someone says that they cut the white sugar down to 1/4 cup, and I followed that advice with a little twist inspired by overmeasuring - I just used 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar for the total sugar. Another variation from the recipe is that I didn't get to baking the dough until it had rested for about 36 hours in my fridge. From the taste of the dough, it may be a little too sweet, but I'll bake them and see how they come out.
Baked them 13 minutes at 350 degrees, they spread a little further than I expected, and they are somewhat overcooked, but the sweetness is about perfect. The peanut flavor is not perfect - that will need a boost, maybe with some chopped peanuts. Maybe the long resting time was too much for the baking powder, and they expanded horizontally instead of vertically.
The problems with the usual peanut butter cookie recipe that I'd like to solve are:
- Long resting time
- Lots of butter
I have a few modified recipes that I could try out next time. Recipe A, to address the butter content, will be:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup RT butter
1 egg
1.25 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Note that the volume of wet ingredients stays the same here.
I suspect that replacing some of the butter with peanut butter will result in a better PB flavor and less spreading. It might also make for tougher cookies that don't rise as well, but I'll just have to bake them and find out. As for the time variable, I'll try one batch after a half hour's rest, another after an hour's, and if neither is satisfying, I'll try two and three hours' rest batches.
I originally conceived of this as an experiment to work on in the near future, but I don't know that I want to eat that many cookies in a short time. Once this batch gets eaten, I'll use my modified recipe and resting times.