Making Your Own Peanut Butter –

Peanut Butter Cookies

Making Peanut Butter Cookies is pretty easy. And this is one cookie most bakeries have figured out. But I’m still looking for the Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie! Most Peanut Butter Cookie connoisseurs have their idea of perfect. Mine is a cookie I remember from my childhood. It was slightly dense, very intense peanut taste, not too sweet, neither caky nor crispy, and slightly sandy in texture. And where did I taste this delicious cookie? Sierra Vista Elementary School! The school cafeteria had a full kitchen … And I believe all the food for the school was cooked in this kitchen at least initially. I have convinced myself the peanut butter was made there too.

I’ve always received compliments on my peanut butter cookie recipes.  (Thank you David for saying mine were better than your wife’s. Yikes.) Yes, I make the ones with the candy kiss too. I certainly appreciated the compliments but realized too, many of my friends didn’t bake. And let’s face it, there is something about a homemade cookie!

After I determined, whether fact or not, the answer to the Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie was adding homemade peanut butter to the recipe it was a done deal. I wasn’t sure how to go about this but…. My first attempt was with raw Spanish peanuts. If anyone tells you the skins pop off easily after roasting, hmm, nope. And it’s messy. Raw peanuts have very little taste and need lots of toasting to achieve what we would describe as a peanut taste. This attempt was a failure. I took a big leap and moved right to roasted salted peanuts. My mistake was adding too much peanut oil. I liked the idea of no honey or sweetener. I moved forward and made these cookies with the second batch of peanut butter and while all was delicious the Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie is still out there.

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Oatmeal Bars – with Berries This Time

A new take on an old recipe! I’m such a berry fan! I loaded this bar cookie with my favorites, blackberry, blueberry and raspberry. It works with other fruit choices, and with some tweaking I’ll bet chocolate too! But for now I’m into the berries. This could second as a breakfast bar too!

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Almond Cookies Or Biscuits

Great with Coffee, Tea, Milk, Cheese and Wine

When biscotti became the rage in our part of the country in the early 90’s I had already discovered a close relative mandelbrot. I wasn’t sure what I was eating but I knew I loved it! To me it looked like a version of the biscotti, and come to find out the baking process is very similar. But it stops there. Mandelbrot definitely has a different texture … almost like a very heavy angel food loaf, sliced thin, 1/4 inch or less, and toasted to a crunch.

Have you tried Almondina Cookies? Just amazing! This was my first exposure to mandelbrot. This company has several varieties now but the original is still my favorite. The sad part for me is availability. I can’t always find Almondina in my little city … Occasionally at Cost Plus World Market.

So, today I tried my hand at making them. But while distracted by cat or dog I managed to ruin my batter. Wait! I thought I ruined the batter but finished the recipe so as not to waste the ingredients. My mistake? Instead of folding the flour into the egg whites I beat it all together. This might have added to the denseness. It worked perfectly. My mistake might have been just what I needed to get the perfect outcome. Because they are just as I remember.

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Naked Chocolate Chip Cookies

At least six Recipes In One

It’s all my daughter’s fault! Where are the chocolate chips!

This basic chocolate chip cookie recipe was my favorite for 25 Years before my daughter came along … embedded in my memory to pull up at any time. My two oldest sons had been eating these chocolate chip cookies for some years without any complaints … after school finding these warm cookies with milk. (Almond milk is now the fav.) Steve would leave behind a few uneaten walnuts but everyone agreed these were delicious cookies fully loaded. It’s still a mystery why but this cookie recipe became three one day! And now six!

What you see is one of my daughter’s favorite cookies. Chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips or walnuts. So, with that day each of my four children let me in on their favorite chocolate chip cookie version … to this day only one (me too) enjoys the fully loaded.

This is a very simple recipe with just a few pantry items. And if you don’t have chocolate chips let me help you pick from your pantry other items you might have. Thank you Missy for making this such a versatile recipe. Now my basic cookie recipe!

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