I’ve had my new oven for over three weeks, and it’s been eyeing me from the corner every time I’m in the kitchen. “Bake something! You know you want to!” it leers. I wanted to come up with something really spectacular to bake or cook to test out my new oven, something awesome that I haven’t been able to make thanks to the old wonky oven. I think I was turning it into too much of a production. So I didn’t make anything. But along came a long holiday weekend, one in which I had a lot of free afternoons, so I decided it was time for some cookies already.
I make A LOT of chocolate chip cookies. I like to make chocolate chip cookies because they always turn out completely fantastic, and every single time I feed them to my friends, they disappear in the blink of an eye. You could say that my friends enjoy those cookies. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the chocolate chip cookies, but there are so many other types of cookies! Fancy cookies and simple cookies and cookies that – gasp! – don’t contain chocolate chips. This weekend, though, I decided, to hell with the chocolate chip cookies, it’s time for something different. So I made some peanut butter cookies.
I used the recipe from the Joy of Cooking, the one my mom always used. I haven’t had peanut butter cookies in years, and I forgot how easy they are. Nothing complicated, just butter, flour, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, and oh yeah, peanut butter. I had some mini chocolate chips laying around, so I decided to add chips to half of the batter, just as an experiment. My favorite part was the fork criss crosses, of course. When I was a kid, I remember being SO impressed that those pretty designs were just made with a fork, rather than some magical tool as I suspected. My new oven worked like an absolute dream. Or, a dream compared to the horrible and wonky oven I was used to. The recipe says that it makes SIX DOZEN cookies, and let me tell you, there were not six dozen cookies. Only four batches total, and the cookies were not gigantic, either. But that’s okay, because the taste sent me back to my childhood, all buttery and crumbly and demanding a glass of milk. The chocolate chip ones were okay, although I’m sure those people who demand chocolate in everything would be pleased. As for me, I’ll take a regular old peanut butter cookie any day.
she likes stripes 
I remember having exactly the same thought about the criss-cross marks when I was a kid. I was gobsmacked to discover you could just make them with a fork. It was like solving one of the great mysteries of the universe.
These look marvelously delicious! Even though there weren’t six dozen of them. 😛 (I don’t think I’ve ever met a cookie recipe that yielded as many cookies as it claimed it would. I don’t know who invents those random numbers… Probably someone who doesn’t eat as much raw cookie dough as I do.)
I don’t know who invents those random numbers… Probably someone who doesn’t eat as much raw cookie dough as I do.
Cookies NEVER turn out well if you abstain from eating dough. When I make chocolate chip cookies? It is a BAD SCENE, because I’m all waiting with bated breath until the last batch is on the cookie sheet so I can scrape the bowl. Also, the person who invents those random numbers makes teensy tiny cookies, not big whopping ones like I make. I prefer the giant ones, personally.
Who can be bothered with teensy tiny cookies? Life is way too short for that. And yeah, giant cookies are just more fun all around. A cookie should have some heft to it! Eating it should be a treat, not a wee tiny taste of something sweet and delicious that is fleeting and gone almost before it’s started.
Chocolate chip cookie dough is nature’s candy. We have been known to make batches of it and just not bother baking it. In that case, we call it “cookie pudding”.
Pingback: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Are Perfect Any Time of Year « throwing waffles
Pingback: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Are Perfect Any Time of Year « she likes stripes