The Fannie Farmer Cookbook Peanut Butter Cookies

I've been trying to find this recipe online to avoid posting it myself, but have failed to find the exact version. Apparently, the recipe differs depending on which edition you have. My version comes from the 13th edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, published in 1990. The proportions are double that of other editions and but it uses half the amount of salt. More noteworthy to me, and I’ll explain why, is that it calls for shortening rather than butter.

I really don’t like baking with shortening. However, we were snowbound (hey thanks, Mother Nature!) and had precious little butter in the house. And precious few sweets. My darling husband was having a powerful hunger for cookies and I remembered this recipe, one of the few I have that specifically calls for shortening. I used Spectrum Organic Shortening which, unlike Crisco, is non-hydrogenated. I forget why I originally purchased it, but I do remember thinking that if I absolutely had to use shortening, I would prefer to spend a little extra for something a wee bit “healthier.” Both my local Hannaford and Target carry Spectrum Organic Shortening. Maybe it’s willful thinking on my part, but when I use the non-hydrogenated shortening, I don’t notice that yucky waxy mouthfeel that is typical of shortening-based baked goods. I found these cookies really tasty, and I’m reasonably sure that wasn’t the desperation for sweets talking.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (the weight conversions and the editorializing are my own)

1 cup (6.5 oz.) shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup (7 oz.) granulated sugar

1 cup (8 oz.) light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup (9.5 oz.) smooth peanut butter

3 cups (12.75 oz.) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a half sheet pan with parchment. In a mixing bowl, thoroughly cream the shortening, vanilla, and sugars. Add the eggs and beat well. Beat in the peanut butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda; add to the peanut butter mixture, mixing until thoroughly combined. I used a cookie scoop (purple handled #40, which is 7/8 oz. for those who care about this sort of stuff) to measure the dough; place on the lined sheet pan. Press each cookie twice with the back of a fork to make the traditional crisscross design. Bake for 12 minutes (less if using a smaller portion of dough); cookies will be firm when lightly touched, but not brown. Makes about 4 dozen or so (I lost count of the trays going in and out of the oven and the cookies going in and out of mouths!) using the #40 scoop.

Crisscrossed and ready to go in the oven!

(Vegan) Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I had been holding on to the recipe for these cookies for some time. I was largely unaware of the possibilities of vegan baking until a dear friend, Dawn, took me to a local vegan bakery. I tried a number of goodies there and was gobsmacked by how moist and delicious everything was. I would never have guessed that none of it contained dairy or eggs. Dawn is herself a vegan and a big fan of yummy things, so I decided that I wanted to honor our friendship by making something for her. Plus, she’s a great guinea pig and has always been supportive of my baking experiments.

After vetting many recipes, I decided that Post Punk Kitchen’s Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles sounded promising, and printed out the recipe, intending to make them as a Christmas offering to Dawn. That would be Christmas 2011. I ended feeling overwhelmed with the holiday baking and never got around to them. Then sometime this fall, our group of girlfriends had a conversation about food (we have many conversations about food) and the subject of chili-infused chocolate came up; Dawn was most enthusiastic. So that sealed the deal; I had to make those cookies this Christmas. And so I did.

I cannot rave about these cookies enough. They were simple to make and did not require any unusual ingredients. No egg substitute or flax meal were necessary. I was worried that the cookies would be greasy with the amount of canola oil used; they weren't.  I was worried that they would lose their crispness when stored; they didn’t. My non-vegan family loved them. Dawn loved them. Dawn’s husband loved them; he even emailed me a plea for help one day because he couldn’t stop eating them and was afraid she would return home from work to discover that they were all eaten.

The cookies are pleasingly chocolaty and have a depth of flavor that I really enjoyed.  I loved how the chocolate and cinnamon played off each other, and the slow burn of the cayenne. The texture is firm but there’s a nice chewiness in there too. Who knew a vegan cookie could be so satisfying?

peanut butter chocolate toffee cookies

I love browsing in the baking goods aisle in my local grocery store.  I particularly love looking at all the different kinds of baking chips -- semisweet, bittersweet and milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, and on and on.  Among my favorites are Heath Toffee Bits.  There are two varieties -- Bits O' Brickle, which are just the toffee bits, and Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits, which are pretty much chopped-up Heath Bars.  I found this recipe on the back of the bag of the latter.  Ordinarily, I prefer not to bake with shortening, but I decided to bake them as written to see how they'd turn out.  I was concerned that substituting butter for the shortening would produce cookies with too much spread and that were too thin.  And they are pretty thin, even with the shortening.  Maybe next time I'll try them with the butter and substitute baking powder for the baking soda (baking soda contributes to spread).  One more thing: the recipe cautions to be careful to not overbake the cookies. However, the cookies looked a bit raw at the 8-minute mark so I baked them for another minute or two.  Even then, I thought the centers were a bit iffy.  I had to cool them on the baking sheet for longer than the recommended 2 minutes as well; they were just too soft and fragile to move at that point.

The verdict on the cookies?  Thin and chewy, with crisp edges -- I love how the peanut butter and chocolate toffee bits play against each other. Give them a try!

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies

(from Hershey's Kitchens)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. 

1/2 cup (95g) shortening

3/4 cup (202g) creamy peanut butter

1 1/4 cups (284g) packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk (I used 1%)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups (181g) all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Add egg; beat just until blended. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup bits; reserve remainder for topping. Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; top each with reserved bits. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until set. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

happy fourth of july!

I made these for a cookout this weekend. I glazed them with white icing and then dotted the cookies while the icing was still wet with red- and blue-tinted icings. Then I used a toothpick to swirl the colors around. The results were pretty cool-looking -- they reminded me of the trails of color that fireworks leave in the sky as they die out.

The cookies themselves were from the Holiday Cookies recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. WPR.org posted the recipe here so I won't repost it, but it's one I've used before. I love it because it's easy to work with and the cookies are soft and have great flavor. The icing is the shiny cookie glaze from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion Cookbook.

King Arthur Flour's Shiny Cookie Glaze
(reposted from Serious Eats, with my adaptations)
3 1/2 cups (14 oz.) confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 tbs. (3 oz.) milk
1/4 cup (about 1.25 oz.) meringue powder
1 tsp. clear vanilla extract
Wilton icing colors

Place the sifted confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a medium-sized bowl. Add the milk and vanilla to the sugar and meringue powder and mix on low for 4 to 5 minutes, until the glaze is the consistency of molasses. Adjust the consistency with a tablespoon of water if necessary. Add icing color if desired. Important: keep the glaze covered while working with it to keep it from forming a skin or hardening up.
Use the spoon for apply the glaze to the cookies and spread using the back of the spoon, removing any excess. Place on a drying rack to let the excess glaze drip off and let the glaze harden and dry for several hours or overnight.

And here are some from the "let's get rid of the rest of the dough and the icing" batch. They were decorated a bit differently!

gingersnaps

I have a tremendous soft spot for all things ginger, but I particularly love ginger cookies. My favorite ginger cookie is the double ginger cookie that we bake for our church's Holiday Fair. They are a little plump (not much spread, but good rise) and are half-dipped in white chocolate. The combo is heavenly. But I don't have that recipe.

I had a hankering for ginger cookies the other day and perused my cookbooks for something that would fill my craving. I found a recipe for Gingersnaps in my old stand-by -- The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I had some misgivings about the recipe, namely that it contained shortening, but in the end, I couldn't taste it at all. The cookies were chewy and pleasantly gingery... everything I was looking for. And even P. (who doesn't share my ginger cookie fixation) enjoyed them immensely.

another practical is upon me

I'm wrapping up the first segment of my second trimester next Sunday -- Cookies and Petit Fours. I'm shocked to find that I will soon have four Baking and Pastry classes under my belt; it seems like such a short time ago when I was so overwhelmed and crazy from the pace of the classes. Now it seems (mostly) like old hat.

Below are a few of the items we made during this segment.


Clockwise from top left: Raspberry Wreaths, Chocolate Biscotti, Checkerboard Cookies, Almond Spritz, Arachides, and Harlequins.

The Raspberry Wreaths have a layer of short dough on the bottom, with butter spritz dough and a raspberry jam filling on top. Chocolate Biscotti have chocolate chips in the cocoa-flavored dough. The Checkerboard Cookies are made with vanilla and chocolate shortbread. The Almond Spritz contain almond flour and are garnished with a sprinkle of almond flour and slivered almonds. The Arachides are filled with a mixture of Pralinosa (a hazelnut-flavored paste) and peanut butter and are dipped in ganache and sprinkled with toasted peanuts to finish. The Harlequins are made from short dough and are filled with orange jam.

Above are another Petit Fours -- Japonaise Mochas. They are tiny Japonaise wafers sandwiched with a layer of a mocha-flavored Swiss Buttercream and are finished with a little more buttercream on top, a drizzle of chocolate and a mocha coffeebean. These were P.'s favorites!


And last are the Petit Fours Glacé. Two layers of frangipane, spread with thin layers of orange jam and topped with a thin layer of marzipan. The whole thing is glazed with a layer of poured fondant and decorated with a chocolate filigree. The sugar in these makes my heart race!

nick of time cranberry-white chocolate (and a whisper of oatmeal) drops

One of the perks of being a habitual baker is that I usually have a fairly well-stocked pantry. And even when it's not well stocked, there are usually enough odds and ends that I can pull something together in a pinch if necessary. Case in point -- this morning I received the call to send in a sweet goodie with L. for tonight's teen book group. After perusing my pantry, I managed to cull enough oatmeal, dried cranberries and white chocolate for this recipe from the King Arthur Flour site. I didn't have a ton of any of these particular ingredients so I halved the batch (just as well -- we have a lot of other baked stuff in the house already).

oatmeal cinnamon chips cookies

I have a real weakness for oatmeal cookies. Maybe it's because I can tell myself that they aren't really naughty to eat, but are actually very healthy, like teeny disc-shaped bowls of oatmeal. I found this recipe on a bag of Hershey's Cinnamon Chips.

Texturewise, they resemble Oatmeal Scotchies -- thin, delicate and chewy. I don't love how fragile they are -- not great for gift giving or even storing for that matter. They are fairly light tasting, particularly when you take into consideration what I consider an almost ungodly amount of butter. And I love the caramel-tinged cinnamon chips. But all in all, they're really just an average tasting batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. It won't stop us from polishing them off lightning fast, but I don't think I will be making them again.

oatmeal date cookies

Essentially the same cookie as the oatmeal raisin cookie I made a couple of weeks ago -- I just substituted dates for the raisins. I thought they would be amazing, as I LOVE dates, but they were just okay. The relatively pure sweetness of the dates just didn't contribute anything special to the cookies. I also inadvertently overbaked them; I used my new cookie scoop instead of shaping them by hand, so these cookies were about half the size of the earlier cookies. The overbaking actually makes them quite crunchy and somewhat more interesting texture-wise, but I still prefer the raisins.

awesome pb lovers' cookies (aka get well soon cookies)

I love reading food blogs, as is evidenced by the lengthy list on the right sidebar. One of my favorites to comb through is Anna Ginsberg's Cookie Madness. Some months ago, Anna posted the recipe for the Get Well Soon cookies she had created for a sick friend and I immediately bookmarked it for future use. I made them today for L.'s book group gathering and have taken the liberty of rechristening them (just for today) "peanut butter lovers' cookies," because (hopefully) none of the kids present are sick. These soft molasses-tinged peanut butter cookies, with chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Dove Dark Chocolate and Reese's Pieces, are quite addictive. P., who is not normally a big peanut butter cookie kind of guy, couldn't stop eating them.

double chocolate chunks revisited

The last time I made these I ran out of confectioners' sugar and wasn't able to photograph them powdered as intended. I made these yesterday for an end-of-school-year party. The recipe is from King Arthur Flour and can be found here. Double Chocolate Chunks are soft and cakey, dotted with gooey chocolate chips. The espresso flavor really shines too. It's rather hard to tell when they're done since they are so dark and so soft... I've found that the best way is to taste one or two!

oatmeal raisin cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies fall into a gray area for me. While I acknowledge that they are cookies, the fact that they also contain oats and raisins allows me to tell myself that they are more health food than guilt-inducing treat. I've even been known to let my kids eat oatmeal raisin cookies for breakfast. I understand that this smacks of bad parenting in some people's eyes, but I stand firm.

Tomorrow L. and his compadres in his teen youth group are going on a hike at Blue Hills, so I decided to bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for their trek. I made a different recipe than my usual -- this one was from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (read Andrea's Recipes' post about the same recipe here). I had misgivings initially because unlike the one I usually use, there is no molasses in America's Test Kitchen's recipe. Also the recipe does not contain that spice which screams oatmeal cookie to me -- cinnamon (but I added some anyway, in addition to the nutmeg in the recipe). The resulting cookies are oversized, and crisp but chewy, very much like the America's Test Kitchen's chocolate chip cookies. L. can't stop eating them -- hopefully there will be some left for tomorrow!

three-chip cookies

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day! Wait, you didn't know it was Chocolate Chip Day? To be honest, neither did I, and I probably never would have known had I not been desperately scouring the Internet for a cookie recipe that would use up all the odds and ends I have in my pantry. And so it was fitting that I ended up with the Jumbo 3-Chip Cookies on Nestlé's website.

I halved the recipe as I didn't have enough of the various chips or nuts to make a full batch and also opted to make smaller cookies to make the half batch go farther. The cookies are of the classic Toll House cookie model -- very thin, almost crisp, buttery -- except with three different kinds of chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk and white chocolate). I have to confess that I think the charm is mostly in the name and the appearance of the cookies since I found it difficult to distinguish tastewise between the semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips, and the white chocolate flavor was completely overwhelmed by the other darker chips. One positive note: since I usually don't add nuts to my chocolate chip cookies, I was pleasantly surprised by how nicely the hazelnuts I used complemented the other flavors. I'm not sure I would go out of my way to make these again, but they were just what I was looking for this afternoon.

chewy choc-oat chip bars

Chocolate chips and oatmeal are always a winning combo for me. In fact, I love oatmeal in almost any cookie, but I'm not sure everyone does, and chocolate can certainly make it more palatable for those folks. Oat bran/fiber AND chocolate? How can you lose?

Usually when I bake goodies for L.'s teen gatherings, a few come home, so I wasn't too concerned that I wouldn't get to sample one later. However, this time there were no leftovers at all. So you'll have to take L. and friends' collective word for it that they were delicious. The recipe was from Nestle's Very Best Baking site, and they were a snap to make and contained ingredients that most bakers have handy -- which was a very good thing for me since I had forgotten to pick up a snack at the grocery store for L. to take!

thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies

Another skiing treat. These are definitely the most attractive chocolate chip cookies I've ever made. And they are delicious too -- crisp yet chewy, and thick in the middle, even though they are made with butter and no shortening. I've never before been able to make a chocolate chip cookie without it becoming flat as a pancake once it goes in the oven. There are all sorts of secrets as to why these look the way they do, so obviously they're from the clever folks at America's Test Kitchen, by way of The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. Personally, I still love the King Arthur Flour Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies best tastewise -- their crisp, buttery, caramel-y quality just can't be beat in my book, plus I love my chocolate chip cookies overdone (even burnt!) -- which is something the ATKFBB recipe doesn't recommend. Nevertheless, I assure you these cookies won't last long in our house -- we love homemade chocolate chip cookies in all their variations!

P.S. -- P.'s review: "These are GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

march madness cookies

These are the cookies are made for the March Madness party at our church. The base is just a simple sugar cookie -- the Holiday Cookies recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. I tried to make the accompanying cream cheese glaze from the same book, but it just didn't work out -- it was all watery and lumpy and just didn't look promising so I chucked it. I ended up making the shiny cookie glaze from the Gingerbread Roll-Out Cookie recipe in The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, which turned out wonderfully. I tinted the glaze with Wilton Icing Colors in copper, and once that hardened, I piped on black (no-butter) buttercream lines. I thought the cookies were really tasty -- soft and reminiscent of Lofthouse's frosted cookies. They were totally addictive and great with a cup of hot tea!

chocolate malted whopper drops

One of three different items I made for the Chocolate Auction at our church. I love, love, LOVE malty things, including chocolate malted milkshakes and Whoppers malted milk balls, so I was hoping that there were others who felt the same way. This cookie comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My House to Yours. The cookies are soft and tender and despite the fact that they contain cocoa powder, semisweet chocolate chips and chopped Whoppers, they are not excessively chocolatey, which is good because I prefer that my cookies don't beat me over the head with their chocolateyness.

double chocolate chunks

I'm not a chocolate person. I like chocolate and all, I just don't crave it like some people. However, a lot of people L-O-V-E chocolate. A lot. And when L. needed to bring a goodie to one of his teen gatherings, I thought why not something chocolate? Well, that, and I have lots of chocolate to work with in my kitchen.

I first made these cookies at Thanksgiving as my chocolate offering for dessert. Everyone was so stuffed after the dinner, they were initially ignored, but I included them in the take-home leftover bags and in the days after got an IM from my MIL raving about them. P. also discovered them post-turkey day. So I thought they were worth revisiting and foisting them on some other unsuspecting souls.

Double Chocolate Chunks are just an over-the-top burst of chocolatey goodness -- with brownie-like softness, and oozing with chocolate bits. A little bit of espresso powder accentuates the cocoa flavor. My intent was to roll the cookies in confectioners' sugar before putting them in the oven (as I had with the last) but discovered to my horror that I am out of confectioners' (how does this even happen??). They really don't need the extra sugar, but they do look a little plain without them. If I had some white chocolate, I might have melted some and drizzled it across the tops to pretty them up a bit. It doesn't really matter -- once you take a bite you really don't care what they look like!

my thursday with dorie -- chunky peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chipsters

Tuesdays with Dorie is a group of very dedicated baking bloggers who, once a week, select, prepare and post a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Although I own the book and I've often considered participating, I haven't yet, I think mostly because I'm frightened what weekly goodies will do to my waistline. So today, I thought I would have my own day with Dorie. I baked her Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (page 73 for those who wish to follow along).

Maybe it's because I've been so (relatively) good in the past week, but the combination of oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate came to me several days ago and just sounded so appealing. I proceeded to google cookie recipes with that combo only to discover that I already had such a recipe in my own house! I actually halved Dorie's version since I wanted to continue being (relatively) good, and opted to use creamy peanut butter (it's what I had in the house) and semisweet chocolate chunks (ditto) instead of bittersweet chocolate. The house smells amazing -- baking brown sugar, peanut butter, cinnamon and chocolate -- and (mmmmmmm) the cookies are even more amazing.

mexican wedding cakes/russian tea cakes

I discovered these goodies when working our church's Holiday Fair this fall. They weren't among the cookies that I had personally prepared, but my curiosity with piqued when a gentleman bought a whole pound of them (bear in mind we sell dozens and dozens of different varieties of cookies and almost everyone buys an assortment and not just one type). I've spent considerable time since researching these melt-in-your-mouth shortbread type cookies and thought they'd be the perfect gift for my husband's aunt who's a great lover of shortbread.

I found a lot of information and a great recipe at joyofbaking.com, one of my favorite websites, and a treasure trove of info on holiday baked goods. They are so easy to make and they are so pretty to look at, but the recipe doesn't yield a lot of cookies (or is it that I eat them as fast as I can bake them?) so make a double batch if you are planning to give them to more than one person.