Lovin' From the Oven

Search Results for: peanut butter cookies

Honey & Crystallized Ginger Cookies

by 9 Comments


Recently, I’ve been able to catch up with all of my friends because of my time off and it’s surely starting to feel like summer to me! This eighty degree+ weather makes me want to never work and just BBQ everyday. Well, that wouldn’t be too productive. I’d say the most productive things that I’ve been doing with my time off so far are finding a million additional food blogs to add to my reading list and gaining back the weight I lost from my surgery.

I’ve also been semi-obsessed with magic recently. I know what you’re thinking… “What is she.. in third grade or something?” Truth is, I’ve always been a magic fan. My parents used to buy me fun magician starter kits when I was little, but I can’t say that I ever became any good at it.
Bottom line is that I managed to find myself a person who was a magician AND a foodie! We emailed back and forth a couple times and I just had to share with you all how wonderful he is. His name is Los Angeles Magician Mike Jacobson and even has a blog where he rates french fries. Yes, you read that right.. french fries. Why didn’t I think of that? He has even been a guest on Ellen show before. You can see a bit of him here and here.
I was really inspired reading his story and talking to him because it made me realize that you really can do what you love. It’s refreshing to talk to people that are so happy with life because if you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life. I will be a baker someday. I will have my own bakery– I will! I will! I will! Whew!
Now off to the cookies– these cookies are definitely different from the rest. They’re unique with their ginger flavor, but I think it’s quite tame, nothing too crazy. The taste might not appeal to all, but that’s just because it’s not your usual chocolate chip, peanut butter, or sugar cookie. I may have may have gone ahead of myself on this one and adapted the recipe from Eat Make Read when I really should have left it as is. By that, I mean subbing some of the white sugar for brown sugar without really thinking about the liquids that were already in it. I did also use honey instead of molasses, but that was something that I think I did right since I’m not a fan of the molasses flavor. Honey and ginger also go together quite naturally. Finally, I rolled some of the cookies in the sugar/cinnamon mix and others in turbinado sugar. Here are my adaptations, minus the subbing sugar part because I think the texture would be better as is:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 3/4 T cinnamon
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup candied ginger, roughly chopped
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • pinch of ground ginger

  1. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg and honey.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine well. Fold in the ginger and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup sugar with a pinch of cinnamon and ground ginger in a small bowl. Preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  5. Once the dough has chilled, roll the dough into small Tablespoon sized balls and roll in the sugar mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Ask me anything on Formspring

Day 9: Peanut Butter Blossoms

by 6 Comments

Only 4 more days til Christmas! Eeeekk that means I have to do all of my bulk baking for my gift baskets/boxes tomorrow. I’ll be in the kitchen all day long, so expect the end of my countdown within the next two days. I baked these cookies for my friend’s fondue party that she was throwing, and everyone LOVED them! Even on top of all the food we ate for the cheese & chocolate fondue (trust me.. we had A LOT! For the cheese fondue: wedge fries, ham, broccoli, cauliflower, bread, pretzels, & tomatoes. For the chocolate fondue: strawberries, pineapples, bananas, pretzels, & rice crispy treats.), people still had room for these cookies. They even smuggled some home for the road! That must mean that they’re good.

Day 9 of my 12 Days of Cookies: Peanut Butter & chocolate… almost as good of a combination as mint & chocolate. These cookies take a bit more effort, but are totally worth it in the end. They are extremely soft cookies (my favorite), yet they can hold up when being stacked upon one another. The peanut butter ratio is the perfect amount.. not too overwhelming, but you definitely taste it. The Hershey’s kiss just tops it off.. give someone a kiss this Christmas!

You can vary this recipe by omitting the kiss if you wanted just a plain peanut butter cookie. You can also change your kind of kiss (swirled, filled, white chocolate, dark chocolate.. the list is endless!) to better suit your taste. There are a TON of different kinds out there! You can even do red and green swirled ones for the holidays. I halved this recipe and made a little over 2 dozen.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup white sugar for decoration
  • 2 (9 ounce) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
  3. Bake for 10 to12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, and immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool completely; the kiss will harden as it cools.

Day 7: M&M Cookies

by Leave a Comment

Day 7 of My 12 Days of Cookies: M&M Cookies. I thought it would be fun and festive to finally add some Christmas color into my cookies. These are the standard Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe with M&M’s replacing the chocolate morsels. The result? Ehhh these were just ok. I think now that I’ve found my elite chocolate chip recipe, nothing else compares. Don’t get me wrong, these are always fun to look at that, though… with all the festive colors. They would look great in a basket given for the holidays!

I used some leftover Halloween candy for these cookies. I had an assortment pack of M&M’s, with peanut, regular, and mini M&M’s. I had to pick out all the red & green ones and left a huge bowl of M&M’s on the island in the kitchen, up for grabs for whoever walks by. What’s your favorite? Mine are definitely the peanut butter M&M’s. Sidenote, I think the mini M&M’s taste ten times better than regular sized M&M’s even though they’re the same.. why? I have no idea. I think all foods that are made miniature just taste better. Period.

The original recipe can be found HERE

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups M&M’s (I used a mixture of mini and regular M&M’s)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.

Categories