Believe It Or Not, Peanut Butter Cookies

I grew up in a family where peanut butter was a staple. My younger sister ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every single day for lunch from as far back as I can remember until she suddenly (and inexplicably) switched to hamburger dill pickles and miracle whip, sometime around junior high or high school. And yes, she eats "normal" food now. Suffice it say, we always bought peanut butter in the Large Economy size. Our brand of choice became the Cook Shack brand--the "store brand", at least at that time, of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain. (Anybody else remember Piggly Wiggly? They still exist in some parts of the south, including south Georgia). Nowadays I'm a Jif gal myself.

We used to make a lot of things that had peanut butter in them, too, like peanut butter frosting to top off a plain yellow cake; a yummy peanut butter/chocolate bar concoction that became the requested birthday cake/dessert of choice at our house for years; and of course, peanut butter cookies. (My sister and I used to make cookies and enter them into competition at the parish fair every year, because you got a free gate ticket for every entry you made. We made lots of cookies.)

This recipe today is a bit different from the traditional peanut butter cookies my sister and I used to make, but to me they're every bit as good, and a lot simpler to make. They call for NO flour, and only four ingredients of any kind, all of which you probably keep on hand. And best of all, they make a small batch, so once you mix the dough, you aren't tied to the kitchen for the next hour, taking pans of cookies in and out of the oven.

If you try these, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how good they are.

Ingredients:

• 1 c peanut butter
• 1 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients. Roll into balls, then place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten with a fork dipped in water to make the traditional criss-cross design on top.

Bake at 350 F for about 12 minutes. Cool (if you can) and enjoy.

Note: I know that peanut butter flavored cookies, etc, have been suspect lately due to the salmonella outbreak, but the peanut paste involved in these cases have come from one particular plant who sold to industrial and institutional customers. As of last note, commercial peanut butter and peanut butter made fresh (like at health food stores) is not involved, but if you're concerned, Lynn's Kitchen has a recipe for homemade peanut butter that I think would be great in this recipe!

Don't forget to check for other recipes at Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday .

Good cooking, and good eating!

It's Snowing Down South

No, not that kind of snow. The only kind of precipitation we ever get for Christmas is rain. Occasionally sleet.

But I am making one of my favorite cookies this afternoon--Snowdrops--hence the snow reference. These cookies are also commonly referred to as Sand Tarts, and I think they're the same or similar to one called a Mexican Wedding Cookie. I think the only difference between all of these is the shape--Snowdrops are made into little balls, which flatten a little on the bottom as they bake; Sand Tarts you make little balls and flatten them before you bake them; and Mexican Wedding cookies are usually mad1e into little half moons or crescents--or sometimes I think they look kind of like little footballs (!)

Here is the version I made this afternoon:

• 1 c butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 c powdered or confectioners sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 c finely chopped almonds or pecans
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 c self-rising flour
• additional powdered sugar to roll cookies in after baking

Cream together butter and powdered sugar; add salt, vanilla, and nuts; gradually stir in flour. This makes a very dry and crumbly dough. Shape the dough into little balls--larger than a marble, smaller than a walnut. Bake at 325 F for 15-20 minutes. Remove to wire rack and let cool . Roll in powdered sugar.

Note: I use self-rising flour almost exclusively, unless a recipe states that you absolutely-must-or-the-recipe-will-fail use all-purpose flour. I usually just leave out the salt and baking powder that the recipe calls for, or in this just the salt. I have no idea if these would turn out differently using all-purpose flour and salt instead of self-rising flour, because I've never made them that way.

Also--I always make these with pecans, I've never tried them with almonds, although I'm sure they'd be just as good. You might even want to add a little almond extract to the dough if you decide to use almonds.

One of the things I like about this recipe is that it doesn't make a huge batch. I love to bake cookies, but once I've mixed everything and done about the third pan into the oven, I'm ready to be through. With this one, it makes about three cookie sheets full, and that's all. So you have to time to do other things, like bake a different kind of cookie. Or blog.

At any rate, these are a pretty, light tasting, not overly sweet cookie, and if you do any kind of baking at all, you probably have all of these ingredients on hand most of the time, so they're any easy, quick cookie for any time of the year, not just Christmas.

My apologies for not posting pictures--we are at home in rural Louisiana for the holidays, and it just takes too long to upload pictures using dial-up. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Good cooking, and good eating, and happy holidays to everyone!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ever

With the holidays coming up, I wanted to give you one of my favorite, all around, recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Are you ready?

First you need to buy a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I've used the good brands, and I've used the store brands. I buy whichever is cheaper at the time--the good brand if it's on sale and I have a coupon, if not, then the cheap brand.

Start off with the basic cookie recipe on the back of the package. It should go something like this:

• 1 c (2 sticks) of butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 c of self-rising flour (or add 1 t salt & 1 t baking soda to regular, all-purpose flour)

Cream together the butter & sugar; add eggs & vanilla; add flour.

And now for the secret--add only HALF the package of chocolate chips, and only HALF of the amount of nuts called for on the package recipe. That translates to this:

• 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 c chopped pecans

Bake as usual, 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the baking sheet and place on a rack or plate to finish cooling. (If you can keep your family out of them long enough.)

Don't tell anyone what you've done, just sit back and wait for the compliments.

This is not just to be cheap (I prefer frugal, thank you); it actually makes a better tasting cookie. It gives a better proportion of cookie to chunky stuff. I've done this literally for years, ever since a cheap frugal friend told me about this. She started it to save money, and got so many compliments that she just continued to do it. Luckily, she believed in sharing!

Good baking, and good eating; until next time...

_____________________________