My brother’s birthday is on Monday. Unfortunately (for me, anyway) he is spending the summer working on Nantucket. So, since I will not be able to celebrate the anniversary of his arrival into this world in-person, I’ve opted instead to send him a care package. Along with road atlases of the American Southwest, Chile, and Mexico, a Moleskin journal, and break-away piece of amazing dark chocolate, I am also sending homemade peanut butter cookies; his favorite. I’m a big fan of the sweet/salty flavor combo, so I decided to add some crushed salted peanuts to my usual recipe. These were delicious! I think next time I’ll try making these using cashew butter and salted cashews….and maybe sprinkling a little sea salt over the top before baking too…
Ingredients:
Makes 2 dozen large cookies
– 2 1/2 c. flour
– 1/2 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– 1 c. butter or butter substitute
– 1 c. sugar
– 1 c. brown sugar
– 2 eggs, beaten (or 1/2 c. applesauce if making vegan)
– 1 c. peanut butter
– 2 tsp. vanilla
– 3/4 c. crushed, salted peanuts
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Measure flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter (substitute) and both sugars. Beat until well blended, but not fluffy
4. Add eggs (or applesauce), peanut butter*, and vanilla to creamed sugars
* Tip: To prevent peanut butter from sticking to your measuring cup, spray cup first with a little cooking spray — it minimizes mess and frustration!
5. Add peanut butter mixture to your flour and incorporate fully
6. Add crushed peanuts to dough. I just put my peanuts into a large ziploc bag and used a pestle to crush them…
7. Mix well
8. Using your hands and/or a spoon, roll pieces of the dough to form smooth balls. I made these cookies rather on the large side, but the size you make them is totally up to you
9. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, with at least 2” between each
10. If desired, press tops of cookies with the tines of a fork to get that old-fashioned PB cookie look
11. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden
12. Let cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towels to finish cooling. I find I get the best results when I bake 1 tray at a time…
And, of course, I had to do a taste test before sending these. Delicious!
theindiehomemaker 
Yum. It will be interesting to see how the cashew ones will work.