Peanut Butter Cookies

All those little flecks you can see in the cookies? Those are tiny pieces of ground dry-roasted peanuts added to the batter to make them more peanut-ty. America's Test Kitchen really works on their recipes to develop techniques and recipe additions to make foods taste even better, sometimes, than tried and true recipes. They weren't happy with the standard peanut butter cookie recipes they tested, so finally came up with the addition of the dry-roasted peanuts. They liked the use of both white and light brown sugar too.

Two of our grandchildren have been visiting for the last 10 days, and I thought maybe some cooking lessons were in order. What child isn't happy with making cookies, I ask you? They were more excited about eating the batter in the bowl and those few little clumps that just happened to get stuck to the sides of spoons or fingers than they were about the cookies themselves, but that's okay. That's part of the fun of it.

I've made these cookies before and knew they were good. You need to like very crispy cookies, though. These aren't soft at all. And the addition of the ground peanuts is a very nice one. Another successful America's Test Kitchen recipe.

Logan (13), Grandpa Dave and Taylor (9) sampling the finished product.

Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe: "The American Test Kitchen Family Cookbook"
Serving Size : 36

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound unsalted butter -- or 2 cubes
1 cup packed brown sugar -- light, not dark
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter -- extra crunchy
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup dry-roasted peanuts -- ground very fine
1. Adjust oven racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350.
2. Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in a bowl. Mix gently and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugars together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the peanut butter until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beaters as needed.
4. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Add in the ground peanuts until mixed thoroughly.
5. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll dough into balls (or use a cookie scoop) and lay on two parchment lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Make a cross-hatch mark with a fork, pressing down moderately to slightly flatten the cookies.
6. Bake until edges are browned slightly (golden) and the centers have puffed and are beginning to deflate, 10-15 minutes. Rotate pans halfway through baking time.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.
NOTES : What's unique about this recipe is the use of ground dry-roasted peanuts which are ground up in a food processor to a very fine grind. America's Test Kitchen recommended Skippy Peanut Butter as the best for baking. And we found that the cookies took more baking time than the recipe indicated.
Per Serving: 192 Calories; 11g Fat (50.5% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 157mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.