Peanut Butter Cookies

By Danilo Alfaro

busycooks.about.com

Peanut butter cookies.

Photo © Collin Anderson

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

With their delicious mix of salty and sweet flavors, peanut butter cookies are always popular. This basic peanut butter cookie recipe uses the so-called "molded method" because we use a fork to flatten and shape the cookies.

A few tips:

• Let the butter, eggs and milk come to room temperature before you cream them.
• For a chewier cookie, mix just enough to combine the ingredients.
• Refrigerate the dough for a few minutes if you find that it's too soft to easily roll into cylinders.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• ¾ lb unsalted butter (3 sticks)
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/3 cups peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 4½ cups pastry flour, or 4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt (table salt, not Kosher salt)

Preparation:

1. Let all the ingredients come to room temperature before you begin.


2. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars, peanut butter and the salt on low speed.
   
   Note: The longer you cream these ingredients, the more air you'll incorporate, giving you a lighter cookie. If you want a chewier cookie, cream only enough to combine the ingredients.


3. Add the eggs and mix until blended.


4. Sift the flour and baking soda together into a separate bowl.


5. Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until they're combined.


6. Roll the dough into a cylinder about an inch thick. You can chill it for a few minutes if it's too soft to work with right away.


7. Prepare your baking sheet pan by greasing it with butter or shortening or lining it with parchment paper. Or use a silicone baking mat, which is my favorite technique.


8. Preheat oven to 375°F.


9. Cut 1 oz portions of dough from the cylinder and place them onto your sheet pan. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie so that they have plenty of room to spread.


10. Use a fork to flatten the cookies, making a criss-cross pattern across the top of the cookie if you wish.


11. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies are beginning to look golden brown.


12. When the cookies are cool enough to handle but still warm, remove them from the pan and cool them on a wire rack. You can eat them as soon as they're cool enough that they won't burn your mouth. Or if you'll be storing them, make sure they've cooled thoroughly first.

Makes about 60 cookies. The recipe may be halved, or you can prepare the dough through step 6 and freeze some or all of it for later.

To freeze cookie dough, roll it into a tube and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Later you can simply unwrap the tube, cut the frozen dough into single-cookie slices and bake normally.