52 cookies :: week 22 :: crisp peanut butter sandwich cookies

Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies
inspired by two recipes in Maida Heatter’s “Book of Great Cookies”
by Martha Rose Shulman
NYT October 4, 2011

1 1/4 c whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
heaped 1/2 c smooth organic peanut butter, with no salt or sugar added, plus 2 tbsp for filling the cookies
3/4 cup raw brown sugar
1 egg

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter and 1/2 c of peanut butter in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the raw sugar and beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the flour mixture, beating at low speed.

Shape dough on wax paper into a log about 2 1/2" in diameter. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 F with racks positioned in the middle and lower portions. Line baking sheets with silpat. Remove the log of dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half. Re-wrap one half and return to the refrigerator. Cut the remaining half into thin rounds, no thicker than 1/4", and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheets about 1 inch apart, with the rows staggered. Place 1/4 teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of each round. Remove the other half of the dough from the refrigerator and slice in rounds. Place each round on top of a peanut butter-topped round. When all of the rounds are covered, lightly flour your fingertips and seal the cookies by pressing down gently all the way around. It won’t matter if the top cracks a little.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 - 16 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly colored and semi-firm to the touch, switching the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely before eating. They won’t be crisp until they cool.

Makes 24 to 28 cookies



K: I like how you made them doubled up. The two peanut butter cookies are good together. If I had a top 5 I think they might be on it. Maybe the 5th.

E: Mmmm, they're good. They kinda taste like your usual pb cookies, except peanut buttery inside.
They are not my favorite but they're good. ;) ;)

D: Hey peanut butter!
Yeah jelly?
You bummed aboot the kings?
Yeah a little bit.
We'll get the next one.
Yeah for sure, eh.

p.s. Thinking about last cookie comments: These cookies are listed at 131 calories each. That is about a 40 minute walk with Moxie ;) 20 minutes on our own...