Peanut Butter Cookies - Page 184

Ava helped me pick this week's cookie. She picked "Peanut Crisps" from the index which made me think of regular ol' Peanut Butter Cookies. I checked the ingredient list and we had everything on hand. So, we had a winner.

I've never been real big on peanut butter cookies, but I don't dislike them either. It's just not what I would pick if given a choice of cookies. I thought these would be fun to make with Ava. I only remember making these once or twice as a little girl, but I know that it was fun smashing the fork into the tops. This recipe called for us to first flatten the ball of dough with a floured glass. Failure.

I'm not sure why, but my dough is coming out very soft (this happened last week too). Now, I will say, that I used the whisk attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer because my paddle attachment has been missing since we moved. But, I don't know if that would cause the dough to be so soft. The only other thing different was the fact that I only had about half the unsalted butter and used regular butter for the rest. That shouldn't make much of a difference. I did use Kirkland's organic, creamy peanut butter (yum!) which might cause the dough to be softer.

We skipped the glass step and moved right on to the fork. Ava thought it was neat and even got to try it a couple of times. Of course, she was a little over-zealous, but that's part of the fun of baking!

I baked two dozen (2 pans) of cookies at once - swapping the pans and rotating them half-way through the baking time. The bottom pan turned out great but the top pan got over cooked. I think I'm going to have to really watch the cook-time on these recipes, so far they have been too long.

Kevin tried the first cookie. He finished it off right away and then said that you need a glass of milk with them. He expected them to be chewy, not dry, and I informed him that they usually are dry. I had a generous bite of one, and to say they are dry is an understatement. It sucked every, last drop of moisture out of my mouth. They taste really nice, but after a big chug of water, I was pretty much done with them. The odd thing is that they are really greasy to the touch (2 sticks of butter, 1 cup of peanut butter, and 1/2 cup of peanuts will do that, I guess) so the dryness really catches you off guard. It will be interesting it see what others think of them.

FLAVOR:

TEXTURE:

Chewy Molasses Crinkles - Page 83

Kevin and I flipped through the book and he narrowed the first choice down to three. I decided on the first cookie from those, based on the least amount of ingredients we would need to purchase (only molasses and allspice for this one). I made a full batch of cookies so we could take most over to our friends' for game night.


First, I would like to note that 1 hour of time to chill the dough is not nearly enough. I would say 2-3 hours at least and overnight is even better. However, I did bake the first dozen with only an hour of chill time, it just made for messier dough-ball rolling as the dough wasn't firm at all. I baked them on a Silpat® instead of parchment, and it worked perfectly. I did learn that you really can't expect to get a dozen on the sheet without having them all touch, as I really crowded the pan and got few circular cookies. Pan two was baked after the dough could chill longer and pan three the next day. They improved each time, but I would say they still weren't perfect.

I absolutely love molasses cookies, the really big, fat, and chewy ones. Ones where you're not sure if they even finished baking. These were not quite that. The overall diameter of the cookie is wonderful, but they thin out during the baking process, leaving the edges chewy, yet hard. The first pan was baked at the recommended 17 minutes, the second - 16 minutes, and finally the third at 15 minutes (each rotated 8 minutes in). The last pan was my favorite, but I think I'll try shortening the time even a minute or two more next time I make these. The flavor was wonderful and just what I had hoped for, it's too bad the density was just off.

Others seemed to feel the same, even though they kept coming back for more. And when Ava (primo-tester) was asked what she thought of them she said, "Ummmm.....(pause) cookie." Enough said.

So, here's my rating system - the Chip Scale (5 chocolate chips being the best). I've decided on two scales: one for flavor, and the other for texture (which will cover consistency, density, texture, etc. - basically how does it feel in one's mouth).

FLAVOR:

TEXTURE:

Let the cookie testing begin!

I purchased Martha Stewart's Cookies on Friday. I don't think I've ever purchased any of Martha's books before. Magazines, yes. Special issues, yes. But never a book. All of her recipes are on her site and many on shows, so I've never felt the need. But I really liked how they organized the new book and figured it was worth the less-than $15 (at Costco) for an organized book of yumminess. The index has full-color photos of every cookie, broken down in categories (such as "Soft and Chewy" - my personal favorite, and "Crumbly and Sandy" - my least favorite), along with a nice color photo of every single recipe in the book. After flipping through it, I decided that no matter how much I perceived to love or hate the cookie, I was going to set out to make each of these recipes. So I decided while setting out to try and test all of these cookies - many I would never of even think of making - that I might as well document it all. This might take a few years, and I want to remember where it all started.