Well, I’m back with more cookies. We are living through a global pandemic – can you blame me?
I don’t think many people read blogs anymore. Does anyone still read blogs anymore? (I hear it’s too difficult to read wordswordswords before getting FREE recipes! Thoughts on this? Follow up question: is it really that hard to scroll?!) No matter. We need cookies and I need to get some things down.
I want to know how everyone is doing. How are you getting along? We are on day 22 of shelter-in-place at my house, and although we are all safe and healthy, we are grieving for the world, for our community, for healthcare workers, and we are grieving the loss of our old life. No school. No playgrounds. No lake walks, playdates, music class, mid-morning walks to the bakery. No Sunday dinner at Nana’s house. Absolutely no Spring Break trip to see my parents in Philadelphia. I’m actually not sure when I’ll get to see my east coast family again, a thought that absolutely terrifies me. A few months? A year from now? More? For now, all we get is a lot of Facetime-ing, brisk walks around the neighborhood (but don’t touch anything! Cross the street if you see anyone approaching!) and a once-a-week venture to the grocery store, alone – a quick, all-business affair quickly followed by a frenzy of highly regimented hand-washing and car/doorknob/grocery package disinfection. All while desperately trying to both keep up with and avoid the news.
And as weird and scary as it all is, I know that we are lucky. So lucky. We are young(ish), and so far healthy. We have a comfortable home, with a basement and yard where the boys can run and play. We have enough food to eat. We are not essential workers, so we’re shielded from the front lines of this virus. All we have to do is stay home. Ask neighbors if they need anything. Try and support local businesses and friends. It’s fine. We’re fine. The waves of fear and guilt and general unease come regularly, a tide coming and going each day. We’re fine. We watch more cartoons, draw more pictures, tidy up the same areas over and over and over again. We take comfort in baking – a batch of cookies, homemade granola, some bread. We’re clearly not the only ones – the baking aisle at the grocery store is gutted clean – so each kitchen project is chosen thoughtfully, with an eye towards our rations, to avoid the bottom of the flour bin, or package of yeast, cocoa powder, sugar, eggs.
The following recipe – from Shauna Sever’s lovely book, Midwest Made – doesn’t even touch the flour bin, so if you’re running low you needn’t worry! Soft, chewy, sugar-glittered, peanut-buttery cookies are in sight.
It’s bad, yes, but it’s not all bad. (See: cookies). Chin up, everyone.
Soft & Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies
Lightly adapted from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever
Yields about 20-24 cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (500g) creamy peanut butter (I used JIF)
- 1 1/4 cups (280g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs, cold from the fridge
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons (16g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar (for coating)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with two racks spaced evenly apart. Line a sheet pan or two with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl using hand-held mixer), beat together the peanut butter, brown sugar, melted butter and salt on medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each, then the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the cornstarch and baking soda. The dough will quickly come together and begin to come off the sides of the bowl.
Use an ice-cream scoop to portion the dough into 2-tablespoon balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar to coat completely. Place the dough balls, evenly spaced about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet(s). Use a large fork (dipped in sugar to prevent sticking) to cross-hatch the top of the cookie balls, flattening them into 1/2-inch thick disks. Sprinkle the tops with a little extra granulated sugar.
Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, rotating the sheets midway through baking, until the edges are just barely set. Cool the cookies entirely on the pans. They will seem pale-ish and underdone, but will continue to bake as they cool – try not to over bake! This ensures their soft and chewy texture. Enjoy immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Note: if you want to make giant cookies, scoop them into 1/4-cup balls and bake them for 12 minutes. (This is how the book directs you to bake them, though I enjoyed the slightly smaller variation.)
I love blogs! I love your blog! I normally love Mindy, but it’s super ironic for a writer to be critical of too much writing.
I’m obsessed w Midwest Made – espresso bars! Banana bread! And I tested for this book! I will definitely make these cookies
Chin up everyone. There’s always Dunk and crumble and peanut butter cookies xoxo
Hey Molly! We all have time to read all the words these days ;). I saw your instagram video when you made these cookies and have been trying to remember the cookbook you were using. Thanks for the post!
I definitely love blogs. More accurately, I love the humans behind the blogs, who share their stories and recipes and thoughts with the rest of us. It’s like being invited over to someone’s house for a visit.
This is beautiful Molly. Am making the cookies stat. Even here in the midwest, land of Pillsbury and General Mills, we are having trouble finding flour. Chin up! and those gorgeous boys ❤️
Love your recipes—and that random chatter! And I LOVE Sheet Pan Suppers. Tonight we’re having Bruce’s BBQ meatloaf. A few weeks ago it was the halibut with coconut rice and edamame (scrumptious even though we had to use flounder instead). In the fall I’ve come to love pork chops with cabbage and apples.
And as a writer and editor, I appreciate blogs (and when I’m in a hurry I can just manage to scroll down to the recipe. Geez).
Keep up the great work!
What a beautiful summation of how this all feels. I am grabbing on to cookies like they are a raft that can float me out of my problems.
What a wonderful summation of this moment. Cookie away!
Thanks for this recipe! I am usually not a big peanut butter cookie fan because they are never peanut buttery enough for me. This recipe is a winner! I made a double batch, went with the 1/4 cup size cookies, wrapped them up pretty and my husband and I delivered them to friends and family – wearing masks and keeping a safe distance of course!:) Thanks again – we can use good food and happiness especially right now.
Love the pictures of your boys – just beautiful! Mine used to look like that – now they’re grown with scruffy beards and crazy hair. They are also PNWs, living in Bellingham:). Take care!