The Sobremesa 05.

let's talk about flourless peanut butter cookies

Shit. It’s 5:30pm and I’m due at my friend’s place for dinner at 6:30pm. I volunteered for dessert days ago, of course. Oh, and did I mention that she’s gluten-free and dairy-free?

Since moving to NYC, gone are the days when I could just hop into our bakery and pick something up when I was in a time crunch. It’s just me, myself, and I. And growing up a baker’s daughter, the pressure is on to bring something homemade. I can’t just bring over a package of Tate’s cookies - I have my dignity dammit.

Alright, alright so we have an hour until game time. And remember the gluten-free and vegan-ish restriction? I stand in my kitchen, look into my cabinets, and actually say “hmmmmm” out loud and stroke my chin. You know, to facilitate really deep thinking.

I have my ah-hah moment! Let’s make some Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies! I have all of these ingredients in my kitchen already, and they take about 20 mins from start to finish. Perfecto.

We’ve been baking these cookies at Baked&Wired since the dawn of time. So long ago, that they were flourless before “gluten-free” was even a thing. Why? Because it allows the peanut butter to really shine it’s heart out and the cookie to have a nice crumbly texture. And if you’re a PB freak like me, it’s a pretty perfect cookie.

In the Baked&Wired kitchen, we subscribe to the Skippy Method. Not Jif, no white labeled cheap peanut butter, but Skippy. I asked my mom why this was and she said “you just gotta pick your peanut butter brand and never look back.” Talk about brand loyalty!

I have to say, I tried my best to “upgrade” this recipe to current times since commercial peanut butter is not exactly au naturel, and is filled saturated-fat-filled hydrogenated oils (hint: that stuff is kinda bad for you).

However, all the organic, natural brands I tried left the cookie either really flat or just honestly not good. Something about the Skippy really make these cookies bind together and taste freaking delicious. So, as they say, if it aint broke, don’t fix it. I figure just a wee bit of hydrogenated oils here and there can’t kill me. Right?

I also love these cookies because they come with a cute grid design on the top, made by pressing a fork into the top of the cookie. I asked my mother why and she said she had no idea - that’s just how she grew up making them.

I consulted Señor Google.

Apparently, the first time that these fork marks were widely instructed to be placed on the cookie tops was in a recipe from a 1936 Pillsbury cookbook. And even then there was absolutely no explanation given in the recipe as to why the fork hash marks were called for. PB cookie historians (lol) have come up with the theory that because peanut butter cookie dough is denser than a lot of other cookie doughs, putting the hash marks actually flattens them for more even baking. Either way, it’s gives these cookies a really cute old-timey look, so that’s reason enough for me.

Ok, ok - let’s get back on track and make some easy peasy yummy cookies. I have dinner in 55 mins!

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

Ok, let’s gooo!

Preheat your oven to 375.

Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl just to blend. You don’t want to overmix here, it will make the cookies tough.

Grab a baking sheet and line with a sheet of parchment paper. Take your hands and roll the dough into 9-10 balls, and then place the balls on a baking sheet.

Make fork marks crossways on each cookie and press halfway. You don’t want to press to make them too flat - they will flatten out a bit on their own while baking. You can also freeze the cookie dough at this point if want to bake them off for later!

Bake for 12 – 15 min until golden brown. Flip around in the oven at halfway mark to ensure even baking. Go ahead and lick the bowl while you’re waiting. If you’ve been keeping up with this newsletter, you know I always risk getting salmonella to eat some cookie dough.

And that’s literally it!

I rolled up to my amiga’s house with these bad boys right on time. We enjoyed these cookies with some vegan ice cream and had ourselves a wonderful evening. My general rule with serving cookies for dessert is to always add them on top of ice cream. Call it “cookie a la mode” if you want!

Mission accomplished.

Another lesson that baking can be, quick, easy and fun (and dietary restriction friendly)!

Happy baking. Love ya mucho,

Tessa