Peanut Butter Cookies

I have been working on a series of cookie recipes that produce a soft cookie that retains it's shape 

That may not mean much now, but as further recipes in the soft cookie series are posted, the creative potential will become clear.  The peanut butter cookie is such a basic cookie, but holds great potential for creative variation.  Changes to nut butters and extracts can make a plain classic cookie something truly exceptional.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 C. Butter (softened)

1 C. White Sugar

1 C. Brown Sugar

1 C. Peanut Butter

2 Large Eggs

1 T. Vanilla Extract

1/8 t. Cinnamon

2 1/2 C. Flour

     Mix the Butter, Sugar, Eggs, Peanut Butter Cinnamon, and Vanilla. Just mix enough to combine the ingredients. You don't want to really dissolve the sugars.  Mix in the flour.  This is going to take some patience unless you have a sturdy kitchen mixer like a KitchenAid. Then just mix on low until a dough forms.  I like to let the dough rest a bit in the refrigerator with a plastic wrap cover.  An hour or 2 is really enough.  

     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

The easiest way to get uniformly sized cookies is to use a scoop.  In the commercial setting, uniformity means measurable food cost and attractive display.  At home, a simple spoon and sound judgment do the trick.  Form balls of dough and place them evenly on a cookie sheet.  I use the bottom of a cup dipped in a saucer of sugar to slightly flatten the dough.  I then use a long tined fork to complete the traditional design for each cookie.

This recipe is compatible with a springerle mold.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

10 minutes for a convection oven.

Cool on a wire rack and store in your favorite cookie jar if they last that long.

Makes 3 dozen reasonably sized cookies. 

This recipe may be varied using exact measure replacements of different nut butters, or extracts.

Pecan, walnut, or even macadamia come to mind, but there really isn't much of a limit to the combinations possible.