COOKIE CHRONICLES - Peanut Butter Break Out!

Peanut Butter cookies!

My dad loved peanut butter....I mean REALLY LOVED peanut butter!  He'd always have peanut butter icing on his birthday cakes and you should have seen his sandwiches!  I swear his PB&Js were more like PB and maybe some J!  And of course, no Christmas Cookie collection was complete without at least one variety of Goober goodie on the plate!

I am my father's daughter so naturally have an affinity for the nutty stuff too.  As is evident in the number of recipes I have acquired that use the stuff!  And why not? Even as a stand-alone, by the spoonful snack, it's a healthy, satisfying nosh.

Peanut butter's not just for sandwiches or cookies.  As a sauce (like Thai Peanut Sauce) it is raised to new levels of flavor - combining its salty complexity with a dash of chili peppers, touch of rice wine and splash of soy sauce. Now THAT'S fine eating! 

Of course, we're not here to talk about peanut butter as a main course.  We're here to talk about cookies....lots and lots of cookies!  And believe it or not, there are lots of different peanut butter cookies to talk about!  We'll work with the basic recipe first, then I'll suggest a few additions.

I've used this recipe for years and believe it originated with my mother...who may have gotten it through the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook."

CLASSIC PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.
Mix together
  1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
  1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
Beat in a large bowl until well blended:
  1⁄3 cup (5 1⁄3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  1⁄2 cup sugar
  1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar
Beat  1 large egg
Add it to:
  1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
  1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
Beat 'til mixed then:
Stir in the flour mixture until blended. Shape into 1-inch balls and arrange about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Press flat with a fork and cook 1 sheet at a time, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

Flatten with fork

Of course, there's a lot one can do with a basic cookie dough like that!  Start with something simple, like adding some chocolate or peanut butter chips.  Maybe both!  It'll taste like a candy peanut butter cup!

Reeses makes a great chip that's a little version of their candy...works real good in cookies!

Other Versions:
PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
From your basic Peanut Butter Cookie batter, many great and magical things can come!  For example, melt some semi-sweet chocolate along with a little bit of water (or bourbon if you like) and drizzle it over your baked cookies.  Let them dry thoroughly - overnight isn't a bad idea - before storing.



PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY GEMS
Stick your thumb into the center of your cookies then fill with a jelly or jam of your choosing.  Just like with the chocolate drizzled version, it's best to leave these out overnight to fully dry before storing them!

PEANUT BUTTER RAISIN COOKIES
Just throw raisins into your batter before forming the cookies.
Too, too simple!

 
Still more ideas?

Spicy PB & Cayenne Hotties!

PEANUT BUTTER CAYENNE HOTTIES - yup!  Add some cayenne to the batter and have at it! Warn your snackers! Also, try various amounts....start small, like around 1/8 tsp. if you're not used to working with it....bake small test batches to reach your desired level of spiciness!  Believe it or not, these cookies are terrific - some folk who don't like spicy foods seem to like the combination of peanut and cayenne.



With such a great base as peanut butter, the sky's the limit on what you can do to add variety to your cookie plate. Go for it!  Grab that bit of oatmeal and mix it in!  Same thing with dried fruits and nuts!  Stir in some powdered cocoa for a real treat!  It's hard to go wrong!

As always, feel free to share your ideas, stories, memories and recipes here via the comments section.  You'll get full credit for what you send.  But mostly, remember as always - Enjoy!

COOKIE CHRONICLES - Specialty Cookies - Sugar Peppermint Pinwheels and Cut Outs

Randi and Jack

So how are your holiday preparations going?
Between the decorating, shopping, baking and so on it's amazing any of us survive!  But we do.  And our loved ones are grateful for all the effort.

It's important that everyone gets involved though, so don't take it all on by yourself.  Make a party of preparation and you'll be amazed at how much help is available!

Trimming the tree is an obvious reason for a party, why not decking the halls, too?  That's an opportunity for some kinda fun.  For that matter, make it happen all at once if you can.  Keep in mind that others may not want things the way you do, so be mindful of your tolerance level and just what kind of "help" you want!

We've been concentrating on baking in our household because baked goods are our gifts to folks. This requires a lot of work, so the decorations will happen a little later in the month.  Heck! I know some folks who don't get the tree done 'til right before Christmas Eve.  For now I'm decking the kitchen with coats of flour!

Anyway....
Today's cookies are Sugar Cookie based, but then I took a left turn somewhere and went Peppermint Pinwheel.
And since there was some dough left over that was mixed up, I made some Peppermint Cut-Outs, too.

SUGAR PEPPERMINT PINWHEELS

Add butter mix to flour mix

1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
4 cups flour (more or less)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract (more if you like it real minty)
3 Tablespoons flour
10 drops red food coloring

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Cream butter, add sugar and vanilla and beat.  Add eggs one at a time, mix until blended.  Cut dough in half.   Take one section of the dough and wrap it in waxed paper.
Take the remaining dough section, add peppermint extract, food coloring and flour.  Mix until thoroughly blended.  Some folk like mixing with their hands at this stage.  Suggestion: wear gloves if you don't want your hands to turn red!  Of course if they do, at least they'll be minty-fresh!
Wrap in waxed paper. Put both wrapped dough sections in refrigerator for at least one hour.


Prepare surface for rolling dough.  I use an old 1/4 or 1/2 sheet cake pan with waxed paper taped to it.  Sure makes clean-up easy!  Start with either section, but roll it out flat, then add the second layer to it.

Rather than overworking the dough, do this process in small sections, cutting bits off each to make the layers.  I began with the vanilla layer first for this photo.  Kinda looks like pizza, eh?

3 layers rolled

Make sure when you're rolling layers on to one another that you don't mix them together.  You want them to maintain their individuality, as much as possible.  As you can see from the photo, there's sometimes a bit of "bleed through."

Next, roll this dough pizza up like a jelly roll, cut off the rough edges and lookie there!  How pretty!
A real live pinwheel pattern!  Roll up your roll in some waxed paper.  Do the same 'til you've used all the dough.  You'll have some crumbs and cast-offs of mixed up dough....don't throw it away!  We'll use it in the next recipe!

Place your "pinwheel logs" in the fridge for another hour's nap.
Then, Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut each log into thin slices and place them on ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes or until bottom is just done. The baking time depends on the slice thickness.  Thinner slices take less time, so you'll have to do a bit of trial and error.

Let the cookies it on the sheet for one minute then put cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.

Sugar Peppermint Pinwheel

 
SUGAR PEPPERMINT CUT-OUT COOKIES

Sugar Peppermint Cut-Outs

Take all of your scraps from the Pinwheels recipe and sort of smoosh them together.  Don't worry about blending anything...the "marbling" will be an interesting affect.

Roll it out and give your cookie cutters a go at it!  Fun! Fun! Fun!  Decorate as you like....sprinkles, sugars, whatever! Peppermint cut-outs!
They go into a 400 degree oven for about 6 minutes.  Let them sit for one minute on the cookie sheet then set them to dry on racks to cool completely.

As always, thanks for your interest in this blog.  Please feel free to share your thoughts, memories, ideas, opinions and even recipes!  I'd love to try some of your favorites!

More cookie madness tomorrow!
For now, Enjoy!

Turnip Turn On!

Turnip turn on

Mom had her hands full when we kids were growing up!  Imagine, five kids.  Enough to make a person go on strike....and I'll be the first to admit that my brand of insanity didn't make her job any easier.  Somehow she and Dad managed and in the process taught us how to do the same.

One way of managing was stretching the food dollar.  Mom could make that eagle scream and give change!
She used vegetables a lot to make the main course go further.  One of my favorites of hers was so simple, Steamed Mashed Turnips.  These were a favorite, especially with a little extra melted butter or gravy. 

Like many other kids, some of her brood could be picky. She got us kids to like turnips by saying they were magic....they turned colors as they cooked!

Peeling turnip with knife

 Preparation for this dish is simple.
You have to peel the turnip in order to use it.  Rather than using a veggie peeler, I just have at it with a very sharp knife.  As the photo demonstrates, I chop down the side at a slight angle.  This seems to work pretty good. I don't chop the top off 'til last, but I did chop off the bottom so that it would sit flat on the table.

Steaming turnip

Once peeled, chop the turnips into cubes and put in a steamer.  I prefer steaming to boiling as it retains more of the vegetables' nutrients and flavors.  If you don't have a steamer, that's okay...just don't fill the pan completely with water.  Only fill it to about 1 inch or so.

Turn the flame on high until the water is boiling rapidly, then turn the flame to medium and let steam for about 10 minutes. It's a good idea to stir the turnips once in a while, especially if the pan is full.

The turnips are done when they're soft enough to cut with a spoon.   Once done, remove from heat and place steamed turnip cubes in a warmed bowl.  Add butter to taste.  With a potato masher or hand mixer, work the butter into the turnips until the vegetables are mashed.  Taste.  Add more butter if need be.  That 's it!

Some people add a bit of heavy cream....bacon bits....garlic.   What ever you like, go for it!
Turnips are great as a side dish when made like this....they're a great substitute for potatoes, too!

As always, feel free to share your recipes, thoughts and so on.  Just do so in the comment section.  Use the comment box or check the email icon.

Enjoy!

Steamed Mashed Turnips