Not So Holiday Baking

I enjoy cooking, but I don’t love baking. However, from time to time, I get the urge to fill the freezer with some home baked goodness. This was one of those weekends. Instead of getting out special holiday recipes, my best friend & house mate, Gayle, and I made double batches of both peanut butter and dark chocolate chip cookies. This was our first time baking together in our new home’s kitchen so it was an opportunity to give the double ovens a good workout. The double ovens - something there was no way I could fit into my former home's kitchen - was one of the many selling points of this house.

Gayle typically just helps with the mise en place, but today she dove right in and actually mixed up the dough for both batches of cookies. 

The peanut butter cookie recipe was just relocated this week. It is written in my personal notebook of recipes. Several years ago, I tried about 15 different peanut butter cookie recipes and settled on this one as the very best of them all. I typically always double batches of cookies when I make them so that we have lots to freeze. The kitchen aid almost couldn’t handle a double batch of this dough. 

Here's the recipe if you want to print it. I also modified it in the typed version below to reflect the order in which I add each item to the mixer now after years of making this recipe.

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 48 using small cookie scoop or 36 with medium cookie scooop

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter flavor shortening

1 c peanut butter

1 c honey

1 c sugar (+ more for rolling)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T cinnamon (add some to the sugar for rolling if you want an extra pop of cinnamon)

3 c all purpose flour

OPTIONAL: hershey's kisses or chocolate stars to make "blossoms"

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Add shortening, peanut butter, honey, and sugar to mixer. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add in eggs and vanilla.

3. Begin adding dry ingredients slowly into the mixer. Blend until just incorporated. Do not over mix.

4. Using the cookie scoope size you want to get the yield indicated. Scoop cookies into balls and roll in sugar (or cinnamon sugar). Place on cookie sheets about 1" apart.

5. If you used a medium cookie scoop, these need to be flattened at least a little with a fork. Otherwise, we actually like them best without flattening them.

6. Bake 10+ minutes (ovens and cooking time varies dramatically so start checking them at 10 minutes).

7. If you want to make these into peanut butter blossoms, top with hershey's kisses or chocolate stars immediately after removing from oven.

8. Allow to cool on the sheet pans for at least 5 minutes before cooling completely on wire racks.

These cookies freeze BEAUTIFULLY after baked (I've not tried them before baking). Freeze cookies in large container. Remove desired amount of cookies from container and place on baking sheet in toaster oven on warm at lowest temperature (between 115 and 130 degrees). Heat until heated through (usually at least 20 minutes, however the beauty of this method is they can stay in the toaster oven for quite a while and not dry out or burn.)

Continuing our story

As I mentioned, this was the first time testing our double ovens. It was super fast to bake off the double batch of these and then to follow a little later with a double batch of these chocolate chip cookies. 

Of course, we made them with dark chocolate chips instead of milk or semi-sweet. This is a good recipe but definitely needed a little more salt. I’ve noted that tweak in my notebook to try next time. 

It was a good day making nearly 200 cookies with my bestie and just having a normal day amidst all of the treatment activities.