Well, I have been without an oven for a couple of weeks because my old stove finally kicked the bucket; or rather, it finally pulled one dangerous stunt too many and I kicked it out of the house. It has been a pain in my rump pretty much ever since we bought it 13 years ago. I persevered, doggedly coddling it until a couple of weeks ago when the oven decided to act like a flame thrower as I opened the door to see if it had decided to start heating or not. Nearly torched me li’l cute face.
Of course the shooting flames scared the stuffing out of me. I simultaneously slammed the oven door closed, said my uncontrollably instinctive Tourette’s word (the “S” word), and jumped back across the kitchen a few feet. From somewhere in a distant part of my range of hearing I could hear my four year old grandson, Gavin, saying, “MomMom! You not aposed to say that. That is a very naughty, naughty word. You in trouble. I fink you need a time out. Don’t ever, ever say that word again.”
Long story short, I just got a new stove yesterday. Wahoo! It arrived before I left for work and John got it all hooked up for me while I was gone. When I got home last night, there sat my new, shiny stove in the spot where that temperamental pain in the rump used to be.
To christen the new oven, today I made my all time most favorite cookie, Peanut Butter. These are very traditional peanut butter cookies with the criss-cross fork marks in them. The recipe is adapted from Betty Crocker and is the recipe I have been using FOREVER.
Tips and Tricks
- Flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup to avoid compacting the flour with scooping. Better yet, weigh the flour on a kitchen scale. Too much flour causes the cookies to be heavy or hard.
- Peanut Butter. The cookies can be made with regular creamy or chunky peanut butter. I have used both, and they work well. I would avoid using a super chunky peanut butter because it does not have enough actual peanut butter.
- Butter. The current recipe at Betty Crocker calls for half peanut butter, half shortening. I, personally, do not like shortening in these cookies. I use all butter, which gives a beautiful end product.
- Chill Time. I have never taken the time to chill the dough, so I don’t know what kind of difference it would make in the finished product. Maybe one of you out there will take the time to chill the dough and let me know how it works for you.
- Baking. Baking for the recommended amount of time results in a lovely, tender cookie with crispy, light golden edges. However, I like my peanut butter cookies crispy throughout. I deliberately ‘over-bake’ them by 2-3 minutes until they are tinged a little ‘too’ brown around the edges. Over-baking them gives a caramelized taste to the cookies. Yum! Not everyone likes them this way, so you do you.
Criss-Cross Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour spoon into measuring cup
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 whole egg
Instructions
- Place oven rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 375-degrees F.
- In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, with an electric hand mixer, cream white sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, and egg until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for two hours. Note: I often skip this step with no problems.
- Shape dough into 1 1/4 balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press dough with the back side of a fork twice – once in one direction and then again at a 90-degree angle to the first pressing.
- Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 9-10 minutes or until cookies are set and light golden brown around the edges. Transfer cookies from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
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