Celebrating 50th post with Peanut blossom cookies

 

I am one of the very few people who dislikes peanuts. Yes, you heard it right. I pick them out from mixture, pori and all items that contain it. I don't like the idea of grinding them to thicken gravy-based dishes either. Roasted, steamed, in whatever form I do not like them. I can't stand them in chocolates either. Reese is my least favorite chocolate. Just to clariy, I am not allergic to peanuts. It is just a dislike for this particular nut.

So why am I saying all this in a post titled "Peanut blossom cookies". I was always curious about peanut butter. How will this taste as a spread with bread or bun. Why is this peanut butter spread such a craze in the west... So I bought a tin of peanut butter "smooth" spread. But I could not bring myself to use it as a spread and finally decided to make cookies out of it.

I looked up the perfect recipe for this on my favourite recipe store. I decided to make this for my daughter's b'day party. But I was running late that day with the party preparations that I was only able to make the dough. I baked the cookies a couple of days later.

Celebrating the 50th post with a new found favourite ingredient in baking - Peanut Butter :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) (I used the smooth paste)

2/3 cup granulated white sugar

(recipe states 1/3 light brown sugar and 1/3 granulated white sugar, but I used all white sugar)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Coating (optional):

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar (I coated the last three batches of cookies with sugar; the earlier batches were baked plain without the sugar coating)

Garnish:

48 Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped

Method:

Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the peanut butter and sugars

and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Beat in the milk.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated.

Cover and chill the batter for about an hour, or until firm enough to roll into balls.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Roll the batter into 1 inch (2.5) round balls. I used the 1 tbsp measure to make the dough balls.

Place the granulated white sugar in a shallow bowl and roll each ball in the sugar.

Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Immediately upon removing the cookies from the

oven, place a unwrapped Chocolate Kiss into the center of each cookie, pressing down gently until the cookie just starts to crack.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

I made this in 6 batches of 7-8 cookies each. Makes about 44 cookies.                                                  

Verdict:  The cookies turned out delicious. But they were a little soft on the inside. I am not sure if it has to do with the dough being in the refrigerator for a couple of days before I got around to baking it. The sugar coated cookies tasted better than the plain ones. The cookies are not too sweet either, so they were perfect for our taste.

Storage Tip: The kisses melt and stick to the hot cookie straight out of the oven, but they are soft for quite a long time after the cookies have cooled down. Allow the cookies to rest on the kitchen platform and aerate so as to cool down the kisses for a couple of hours or so, and let them solidify before storing. Else when you place the second layer of cookies on top of the first layer, you will end up with flat, squashed kisses in the bottom layer.


This is one of my entries to Vardhini and Sangee's "Bake Fest" Event. Here is the link to the event:
http://sangeethaskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-event-announcement-bake-fest-2.html
http://vardhiniskitchen.blogspot.com/p/bake-fest-hosting-schedule.html

This is also one of my entries to Suma's Cookie Fest.