When I am too busy with work, I always find that time alone in my kitchen is what I crave. Baking in particular relaxes me and makes me feel centered. The simple act of kneading bread or rolling dough is always what I long to do when I've got too much on my plate. So after a long week of both days and nights filled with work obligations, I finally had the chance to spend some quality time with my oven yesterday. Last weekend, Dorie Greenspan's new cookbook, Baking, arrived via the post as I had forgotten to send back the cookbook club postcard. I was unfamiliar with Dorie, but had recently read Brilynn's rave reviews of her on Jumbo Empanadas. It is a beautiful book, filled with delicious looking pictures and recipes written in a homey, down to earth tone. Paging through it, I ran across her Peanut Butter Crisscrosses and have been thinking about them all week.
To me, the only kind of peanut butter cookies worth eating are slightly chewy, but a little crisp, they have to be rolled in sugar, and they must have fork crisscrosses on them. The perfect cookie for a afternoon snack or to enjoy before bedtime with a glass of milk, peanut butter cookies have long been one of my favorites. Alas, I lacked a recipe that I loved. I have a bunch of cookbooks (a nasty and growing habit), but I wasn't happy with any of the recipes to be found within them. Some lacked enough flour and the cookies were too flat, others just seemed to be missing something. None of them wowed me. When I came across Dorie's recipe, they looked so crisp, peanutbuttery and delicious, with small sugar grains sparkling around the edges, I knew these could be the peanut butter cookies I had been searching for. This is kind of an unusual recipe, it's quite soft and has the unexpected, but inspired addition of nutmeg, which gives the cookies a distinctive smell and taste. The finished cookies are wonderful, everything a peanut butter cookie should be.
When I said that I was going to make these, Lovie said that
she wished we were making peanut butter and jelly cookies instead. To a four year old, cookies made of peanut butter and jelly seemd like the best thing she could imagine. So in about 20 balls of uncooked cookie dough, we made thumb prints. After we baked them, we filled the hole with blueberry jam. She says they taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread. She had 5 of them yesterday.
Dorie Greenspan's Peanut Butter Crisscrosses
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Pinch of freshly ground Nutmeg
2 sticks of unsalted Butter at room temperature
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1/2 cup of Sugar to roll dough
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, or convection oven to 300 degrees.
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Beat butter in mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute between each addition. Add sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Scrape the bowl and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls between your palms and then roll in the sugar. Place on cookie sheets and press with a fork to create the crisscross pattern. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy with milk!
Is there anything Dorie can't do? You'll love the book, everything is amazing!
And your daughter is genius, adding jam is an excellent idea.
Posted by: Brilynn | February 25, 2007 at 06:36 PM