123. Peanut Butter Cookies (p. 663)

I love peanut butter, and I love cookies. So, you'd think that I'd love this recipe. But, unfortunately, these cookies were a bit of a disappointment.

They look a lot like the cookie-jar classic that just about every home cook has made once before. But there's something a little off about this recipe. At first, I though that it was just me. After all, I did use "reduced fat" peanut butter instead of regular. So, I figured that was why they were so dry and hard. But then I read Teena's post about these cookies. She made these cookies "by The Book," and still found them "chalky, dry, and floury." (In fact, Teena made them twice and hated them both times.)

There's nothing unusual about the recipe. Start by beating together some softened butter, chunky peanut butter and brown sugar. Then beat in an egg, some flour, baking powder and salt. Maybe there's just too much flour in the recipe? One and three-quarter cups of flour to a half-cup of butter and one and one-half cups of peanut butter doesn't seem out of whack to me, but recipe ingredient ratios are still pretty much a mystery to me.

While I didn't love these cookies, I did eat them (but I wouldn't share them with my co-workers, lest they think that I'm a lousy cook). The flavor was fine. Nice and peanut-buttery, with that little bit of saltiness that all good cookies have. The texture was all wrong, though. I won't be making this one again.

This post does give me a chance to talk about my newest kitchen gadget. I think that I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of "gadgets." I have great respect for the tried-and-true kitchen "tools" that professional and home cooks have been using for years. The more uses a tool has the better. But every now and then, I come across something that, while a one- or two-trick pony, is so perfectly suited to the task, that it earns a place in my kitchen (and not just in the junk drawer). My cherry/olive pitter is one of these tools, and my new Push Button Cookie Dough Scoop is another. My mom gave me this little wonder when she visited us a few weeks ago. It's a lexan spoon with a round, one-tablespoon scoop that has a flexible silicone bottom. You scoop some cookie dough from your bowl, press on the silicone bottom and you've got batches and batches of perfectly uniform cookies, just like that. Pretty cool! Thanks, Mom!

Date Cooked: March 7, 2009
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: C