Peanut Butter Cookies

The use of mostly brown sugar and the addition of a little cornstarch produced soft, slightly chewy peanut butter cookies that lend themselves well to ice cream sandwiches (detailed in a separate post.) I would imagine they would also be lovely sandwiching a creamy frosting or rich ganache. The possibilities abound. Also, the few that were stolen by teenagers were immensely enjoyed on their own while I was preparing them for the ice cream sandwiches.

Let me know what combinations you come up with in the comments or over in my locals community.

Peanut Butter Cookies

(makes about 20 large cookies)

1 cup butter

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups creamy peanut butter (15.5 ounces)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or coat lightly with cooking spray (if you only have one cookie sheet, you can just use it twice.)

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, cream the butter with the sugars until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix well before adding the flour mixture.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt with wire whisk or fork.

Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture until it is just fully combined. (Do not overmix after this step because when the flour is beaten in, the gluten is activated and can produce an unpleasant texture the more the protein structure is developed.)

Drop the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. I used a mini ice cream scoop to make them uniform in size. Press the dough down with a fork as shown and make a little pattern with them (it doesn’t have to look exactly like mine). Make sure to leave a couple inches of space in between because they will spread out, as shown below.