daily meal

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Peanut Butter Cookies

School has started up again and between my two internships and classes, things are crazy! Since I do not have much time to relax, when I do find a few moments for myself I want to enjoy them... aka I stuff myself with desserts and drinks!


Since I had some time to bake this week, I knew that I had to try out this peanut butter cookie recipe from a cookie book I received one Christmas.  I absolutely love anything with peanut butter! I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert.  And I usually just eat it right off the spoon! I recently became addicted to chunky peanut butter too, so I knew that these cookies were meant for me to make!



Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
-2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-1cup (2 sticks) butter, unsalted
-1 cup packed light brown sugar
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup crunchy peanut butter
-2 large eggs
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 cup salted, dry roasted peanuts or Reese's Pieces peanut butter chips (optional - I used the chips instead of peanuts and loved it! Depending on your mood, I would try out both ;))

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy.  Add in the sugars and beat until light and fluffy (a couple of minutes).  Beat in the peanut butter until fully incorporated.  Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla.  Slowly mix in the dry ingredients a little at a time until fully combined. Once the batter is well combined, stir in the peanuts or Reese's Pieces chips (if using).

Using a cookie scoop or generous spoonful, roll the dough into 2-inch balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment 2 inches apart from one another.  Press each cookie dough ball down with a dinner fork to create a crisscross design.  If the fork sticks to the dough you can dip it in cold water before pressing it down onto the dough.

Bake until the cookies puff up and the edges are slightly browned (9-11) minutes, and make sure to rotate the pan halfway through.  Be mindful that the cookies will not look fully baked when done, so do not overcook them.  Let them cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.  If you are like me though, you will not be able to wait and will just start pounding them down!

Serve with a glass of milk, coffee, or tea, and enjoy!


Now before I forget, I want to thank Samantha from Ferraro Kitchen for passing along the Versatile Blogger Award to me! She is new to the blogging community and a young college student so I can definitely relate to her! Samantha has a wonderful blog so if you have not checked it out, be sure to do so here. Thanks again so much Samantha!


As with many other awards, I shall not only thank Samantha over and over for passing this along to me, but I also must share 7 random facts with all of you and pass the award on to some of my favorite bloggers out there! 

So here it goes...
1.) I am a graduate student (which most of you know), but I am studying higher education and interning in the study abroad office, which I absolutely love!

2.) I have a secret crush on Elijah Wood even though he is not your typical leading man and I am pretty sure he may be shorter than me :/

3.) I have recently become obsessed with goat cheese.  In fact, I am going to be posting a goat cheese mousse recipe soon!

4.) I am a huge history buff and especially love European and British history and will read any book dealing with British history. 

5.) I have never ever had a malasada before but I crave them constantly! I saw a photo of them and have wanted them ever since!

6.) I have still not accepted that Harry Potter is over and have re-read the books several times and you should all be expecting to still see more potter related posts to come! Someone has to keep it alive, right??? ;) 

7.) I used to dream about moving to Egypt when I was younger and living life as a historian similar to Rachel Weisz's character in the first mummy.  Although I am still fascinated by Egyptian history I doubt I will be taking on a leading role and fighting mummies any time soon. 

Now to pass along the award, here is a list of food blogs that I love and food blogs that I have recently discovered and love:
1.) Kate @ Diethood
2.) Parsley @ The Deep Dish
5.) Chef Dennis @ Ask Chef Dennis
6.) Manu @ Manus Menu
9.) Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That
10.) Cassie @ Bake Your Day
11.) Tiffany @ Como Water
13.) Hester @ Alchemy in the Kitchen
14.) Sabrina @ Eat, Drink, and be Merry
15.) Kita @ Pass the Sushi
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26 comments:

  1. Congratulations on receiving the versatile blogger award, and thank you so much for thinking of me to pass it along too! I am honored to be is such a great of bloggers!
    Your cookies look so very very good, just pour me a big glass of milk and pass the plate!

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  2. Love this! So funny...I'm going to post about peanut butter cookies later this week too! And did you have malasada's in Hawaii? Thats the only place I canf ind them!! (since i moved from there!..ahh!)

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  3. Gorgeous cookies, Elyse. Congrats on the versatile blogger and thanks for passing it on. I know (and love) about 50% of the blogs you mention and I'm really looking forward to discovering the other 50% - it's always great to get a recommendation.

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  4. What wonderful looking cookies - these photos are beauties as well as the recipe. Well done on the award: love to know more about you - oh history buff and chevre-lover (that mousse sounds intriguing!)
    Good luck with crazy routine again!

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  5. These peanut butter cookies look like perfection! I love a good peanut butter cookie!! Congrats on your award. I loved reading your facts! We have a couple of things in common. I am also a grad student and I have a crush on Elijah Wood. Plus, my husband kind of looks like him! Score!

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  6. Aww you're lucky! My boyfriend actually looks a bit like Harry Potter with his glasses on! hahaha so that works for me too :)

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  7. I love peanut butter and in cookie form it is even better. Thank you for sharing. Looks fantastic!

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  8. I’ve been thinking about cookies and came across your blog. Those peanut butter cookies look so good! Forget about the milk, just a cookie or 2 will do.
    And congrats on the award!

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  9. Congrats on your well deserved award Elyse! And thank you so much for passing it along to me!!! <3 <3

    Those cookies look so good! I would love to have a couple of them with a cold glass of milk!!! Mmmmmmm

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  10. Congrats on your award and thanks so much for passing on this honor to me! Happy Wednesday! and YUMMY looking cookies! :D

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  11. Congrats! I love a good peanut butter cookie recipe. Yum!

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  12. Congrats on your award! Well deserved :) Now, those cookies! Those look so good and I'm thinking we need some of those stat!

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  13. Peanut butter cookies are the ultimate! And this stack looks irresistable!

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  14. I'm totally on a peanut butter kick right now it's madness. Your cookies look really good. You can never go wrong with a peanut butter cookie in my book.

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  15. ooooh - Peanut. Butter. COOKIES ! How wonderful :-)

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  16. Congrats on Foodbuzz top 9 and your award!

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  17. CONGRATS on your top 9 AND the versatile bogger award!!! These cookies look fabulous...your cross hatches look picture perfect!

    And thanks for passing the VB award on to me...I'm do honored you thought of me! xoxo

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  18. Loves the way u enjoy yourself - loves the photos & the ingredients! :)
    Congratz for the top 9 on foodbuzz & for the award! ;)

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  19. My favorite way to eat peanut butter is in cookies & these look divine! I'm totally going to try these with the salted peanuts in them! Thanks :)

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  20. Looks so crispy and I can imagine the wonderful taste esp with peanut butter added inside.

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  21. Congratulations on the award, and thank you soooooo much for passing it onto me!! *mwah* ♥

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  22. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Elijah Wood is HOT!

    Oh wait...I meant 'Yay' for the award :) I got carried away cause I was glad to fine out that someone else found Frodo sexy! Thanks so much for passing it on to me! Especially in such a yummy post. Bring on the peanie butter!

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  23. One of my favorite childhood memories is making pb cookies with my dad. I love these :D

    I am a history buff too ---with a degree to back it up, even! LOL I am not willing to accept Harry Potter is over either; and I am obsessed with goat cheese. :)

    Great post!

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  24. Wow your cookies are perfection! The photos are also lovely. Cookies and milk was my favorite snack as a kid, who am I kidding every kids :) Congrats on the award. Thanks for participating in September's YBR :) Sorry I'm so late in getting here.

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