peanut butter cookies

If you are a fan of peanut flavor and Christmas cookies, you will love this recipe for peanut butter cookies (or what is the same, the popular Peanut Butter Cookies ).

It is a very American recipe, but it is becoming more and more popular here. I discovered it from Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking, and while I personally am not a big fan of peanut butter and cookies I made them for you to enjoy at home, I have to admit these cookies are delicious.

They are rustic-looking cookies and unpretentious, but their peanut butter content along with maple syrup and brown sugar bring out some most fascinating notes. They smell of trees, of wood, and their rustic flavor is really delicious with a good cup of coffee in the morning.

They are perfect cookies for the little ones, and also to take out after a good meal, while enjoying the after-dinner meal.

With this recipe you get a good amount of cookies, which you can keep for up to three days in perfect condition (although we already know that there is nothing like a freshly baked cookie)!

You will see below that I suggest you make them with salt flakes, but I also encourage you to try them crowned with marshmallows. They both give the cookie that American plus and add a wonderful texture and flavor to enjoy them in a different way.

Ingredients (for about 24 cookies)

• 3/4 cup all purpose wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter*
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure Madagascar vanilla extract
• 1 cup honey roasted peanuts
• Salt flakes, for sprinkling

*You can use homemade peanut butter (what is the same, peanut butter). Making it is very easy, you can see how in this post .

Preparation

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, yeast, salt, and baking soda. Booking.
2. In the bowl of your KitchenAid for a stand mixer or a large bowl for a hand mixer, mix the butter, both sugars and maple syrup on medium speed until super light and fluffy (3 to 5 minutes, the sugar should be integrated and the granule should not be appreciated).
3. Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla, and mix until fully incorporated. Reduce to low speed and gradually add half of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Then add the other half of the flour and mix until well incorporated. Add the peanuts.
4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, with a manual spatula, finish mixing, making sure that there are no remains at the bottom of the bowl and that everything is well integrated. You have the dough ready.
5. Cover with plastic and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
7. Arrange parchment paper on two baking sheets and use a tablespoon to shape the cookies (about 1 heaping tablespoon for each cookie).
8. Go forming the cookies, round, in the trays. Place them a couple of fingers apart between them so they have room to expand. When you have distributed all the dough, with the help of a fork, press lightly on the surface of the dough of each one, so that the teeth of the fork remain marked. Do this twice, once vertically and once horizontally, to draw that classic, old-school crisscross pattern.
9. As a final touch, sprinkle a pinch of salt flakes on top of each cookie.
10. Place the trays in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Interchange the height trays so that they are equally browned by one and the other. When finished baking, let them cool on a cooling rack to crisp them up.

TRICK! If you want, instead of the salt flakes you can put cut or laminated marshmallows or marshmallows on top of the cookies (put it before baking). The flavor of the toasted marshmallows, sweet and soft, contrasts with the peanut flavor of the cookie and they taste delicious. If you do them like this, I also invite you to add a pinch of brown sugar on top of the marshmallow, to finish the cookie in a brighter and more beautiful way.

With Marshmallows it is a way to vary the recipe and bring smiles! You can also bake both, some with salt and some with marshmallows, and find out which ones you like best at home.

Grades

• If you want, you don't have to bake all the cookies on the same day: you can freeze part of the dough or, even more practical: when you have the cookies formed on the tray, you can freeze them like this, already formed (if you have a freezer large put the tray on it, otherwise transfer the formed cookies in a smaller container or in a zip bag). Thus, the day you want to enjoy them, you will only have to turn on the oven and bake them for a few minutes. It's convenient and you can enjoy freshly baked cookies more often! You can keep the dough frozen for up to 2 and 3 months.

• To bake cookies, nothing like a good perforated tray or a cookie base. Discover all that we have in the cookie sheet section and use it not only for that, but to bake pizzas, make puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, bread... A tray is a kitchen staple!
• Once baked, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container, at room temperature and in a dry place, for up to 3 days. We have some ideal cookie containers for this in the Stands and Preservers section.
• Peanut butter or cream you will find today in any large surface. Look in the section for cocoa and hazelnut spreads or ask for it.