What's Your Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect Peanut Butter Cookie?

[OH2FL]

I'm always on a quest for the very best peanut butter cookie recipe. And I always find it until the next recipe (or bakery!) comes along and I change my mind and then that's the best!

So they come chewy or crumby, soft or crisp, nutty or smooth, peanut-butter-only-purist or a few PB chips...

What is it for you that makes the most delicious peanut better cookie? Is your favorite from the bakery or from your own oven? Grandma's or the Girl Scouts? Natural peanut butter or good 'ol Jif?

[EWSflash]

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure i've HAD a really bad peanut butter cookie ever.

The best PB cookie is one that somebody else made that you suddenly have a chance to take one of. That is what makes it the best. I make a good PB cookie but, like salad, the best one is always made for you rather than by you.

[Sooeygun]

My favourite is the recipe I have altered. It's a standard pb cookie recipe (Company's Coming book) that you press with the fork before baking (the fork mark is essential on a PB cookie for me). One day, I didn't have quite enough PB, so I threw in an extra glob of butter and a bag of chopped peanuts. ANother day, I decided it needed chocolate, so they now have chocolate chunks in them (milk or dark, depending on what's around). Mr. Sooeygun has named them Nutty Chunkers.

[bakinggirl]

My favorite PB cookies have been made with a standard PB cookie recipe, but I've used a different type of PB from Peanut Butter & Co. The Maple Syrup PB cookies were to die for! I have yet to open my jar of Dark Chocolate PB, but I may do so now...

[cycloneillini]

I'm just the opposite of dmd_kc. I've never met a PB cookie, candy, fudge anything that I didn't like. Crunchy, chewy, with nuts, without, I like 'em all. My favorite though is still the traditional recipe that I think was from the Skippy jar. My mom has been making them as long as I can remember (and I'm 50!). When I was a little girl I loved helping roll them in balls and then making the criss cross pattern on them with a fork. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

[Infomaniac]

My favorite is from a Peter Pan cook book from 1963 that uses whole red skin salted spanish peatnus. Their crisp and peanut brittle fans love them.

[dmd_kc]

I've never tasted a baked peanut butter anything that I enjoyed. Something about the combination of heat and cooked starch just ruins the peanut flavor to me, making it harsh and not quite burnt tasting -- but definitely unpleasant.

A friend in college had a "cookie" recipe that was really more like a peanut butter candy, which she smashed flat with crisscrossed forks like the traditional cookie. Those were amazing, and I don't seem to have the recipe any longer. I remember they had raw egg, so they'd freak a lot of people out. We ate a lot of them with no ill effects.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"Something about the combination of heat and cooked starch just ruins the peanut flavor to me,"
~~~~~~
that's why the have to be *flourless* PB cookies :)

[dmd_kc]

And can you share such a thing? I'd be willing to sacrifice some peanut butter for a try!

[goodhealthgourmet]

my pleasure - posted below.

[OH2FL]

"Flourless"

Oh, do tell please!!

[goodhealthgourmet]

ok, you two.

the standard flourless PB cookie recipe is nothing more than PB, sugar, egg, and baking soda. but since i've never been one to leave well enough alone, of course my recipe is a tiny bit more involved ;) not to worry, it's still easy. here you go...

GHG’S ULTIMATE FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
(Makes approximately 1½ dozen cookies)

For cookies:
8 oz. natural, unsalted peanut butter (if oil has separated, stir well to reincorporate)
1 large egg
¾ c brown sugar
2 Tbsp molasses (NOT blackstrap)
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp Kosher salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

For topping:
Raw sugar
Fleur de sel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine peanut butter, egg, molasses and vanilla extract in a large bowl, and mix well to combine thoroughly. Stir in sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and mix well to ensure even distribution.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (about the size of a walnut in the shell), and set in rows on the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between them because you're going to flatten them out.

Pour raw sugar onto a small plate, dip the back of a fork into it, and press down gently on each dough ball with the back of the fork to flatten it slightly and leave impressions/grooves from the fork tines. Dip the fork back into the sugar before each press. You're going to press each cookie *twice* to create a cross-hatch pattern (so you'll want to make the second impression at a 90-degree angle to the first one).

After all cookies have been pressed, sprinkle the tops with a bit more of the raw sugar.

Bake the cookies on the center rack of the preheated oven for approx. 10 - 11 minutes, until puffed and golden. As soon as you remove them from the oven, sprinkle each cookie with a few grains of fleur de sel.

[OH2FL]

OMG with cinnamon and molasses- two of my favorite tastes. I'm going to put this recipe to the test this weekend!

Thanks for sharing!

[lynnlato]

As u know, ghg, I try to avoid white flour also, for med reasons. Here is a flourless pb cookie recipe I've been using for a long time.

1 cup extra chunky peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients together, but chips. Mix well. Stir in chips. Using moistened hands, form tablespoon-sized balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 10-12 mins.

yield: 24 cookies

[EWSflash]

Wow, that's over-the-top yummy sounding. Don't know how long you've been gluten-free, but do you know if they taste like the usual standard peanut butter cookies, or are they tasty in a different kind of way?

[NellyNel]

For me it's the texture that really makes it...it has to be soft and very chewy - a kind of brownie like texture, but with a crisp tasty outside...
I don't mind a few pb chips, but absolutely no chopped peanuts please!!

[goodhealthgourmet]

definitely from my own oven. gluten-free, made with roasted peanut flour.

[OH2FL]

Roasted peanut flour.... I don't remember seeing that at Whole Foods?

[goodhealthgourmet]

it's a specialty ingredient - you won't find it in any stores. i get it directly from the supplier/peanut farm, but they now actually have an arrangement with one website where consumers can order it in smaller amounts (1- or 5-pound bags, i believe). let me know if you want the info. (there's also a powdered peanut butter product out there called "PB2" but it contains sugar and salt.)

[OH2FL]

I would appreciate the info, thanks! I have an aunt that avoids gluten that I could surprise with some cookies.

[goodhealthgourmet]

ok, here's the thing. i'm happy to give you the info to order the peanut flour, but i can't give up my cookie recipe that uses it. i really hate to deny a fellow Chowhound, but i have a private baking business & i'm also working on a cookbook, and it's one of my proprietary recipes.

i hope the other recipe i gave you that calls for peanut butter (instead of peanut flour) will suffice for now...? again, i'm so sorry!

here's the link to order the peanut flour:
http://www.byrdmill.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Shelf/ASP/Hierarchy/0B.html

and this is the powdered PB company i mentioned:
http://www.bellplantation.com/

for the peanut flour from Byrd Mill, i use my own blend of light & dark roasts depending on the application. read through the descriptions to decide which variety might best suit your needs. i will say that the dark roast is *extremely* peanutty, pungent stuff, and it'll make your baked goods bitter if you go overboard with it, unless you add tons of sugar & salt to balance it out. the light roast is mellower. i also use the lower fat (12%) because it gives me more control over the fat content of my products, but again, it's your preference.

[OH2FL]

OMG I'm so OK with that! I just appreciate the tips for this AND I can see I'll be on the Bell site for awhile. Although Byrd offers some things new to me so I'll have some reading to do.... Hehehe

I'll tell you what... You're forgiven :-) if you allow me to pick your brain w/some questions on this?!

[goodhealthgourmet]

anytime. seriously.

[alkapal]

>>>>i can't give up my cookie recipe that uses it. i really hate to deny a fellow Chowhound, but i have a private baking business & i'm also working on a cookbook, and it's one of my proprietary recipes. <<<<

ghg, i'm proud of you! there is no need to apologize, though, for protecting your recipes -- this baking and your intellectual property are your livelihood. but i do appreciate that you really *would* like to help! you're a sweetheart.