For fans of peanut butter AND chocolate!
I don't often write these kinds of posts. But I want to share a simple recipe I threw together last week. It's not as if I can claim this as "my" recipe, since it was made from pre-packaged mixes! I did need to sift the flour, though! Anyway, it's a delicious cookie treat... if you like peanut butter and chocolate together. (I do!) Instead of peanut butter chips inside a chocolate cookie, it's chocolate chips in a peanut butter cookie (and not just any chocolate either!). Pics and directions are under the Cut.
This pic will probably tell experienced cooks everything they need to know. For those who'd like a bit more explanation, scroll down (everyone else should scroll down too- there's more pics as well!).
I call them Peanut Butter Pinwheels. All you need are the two packages you see in the pic. They'll cost about $5 if you get the big package of cookie mix, less for the smaller, obviously. The package of chips will last for several batches of mix, however, so it's very cost-efficient if you want to make a lot of cookies.
It's Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix, and Nestle's Tollhouse Swirled White and DARK chocolate Drops. (Okay, I prefer dark chocolate to milk, and white to dark, and here's both?!! They're mine!)
All you do is mix the flour with some oil and water (and maybe one egg for the large pack), then roll out little balls of dough (wash your hands first, you slob!), flatten them on a cookie sheet, and insert as many chocolate drops as you can fit (the dough will expand, pushing the drops apart), and bake for aprox 10 minutes! Wow- home-baked treats in less time than most commercial breaks these days!
This pic is a lesson in what a single minute longer in the oven can do to your cookie. Unless you like your cookies very crisp, you need to watch them closely in the last five minutes to prevent overbaking. While I agree that some kinds of cookie are meant to be crisp, I rather think this is not one of them. Much better soft and chewy with no black crust underneath. Note the difference in the chocolate drops- the overbaked cookie on the left has burned chocolate as well. The drops should not melt significantly, just soften a bit. Now if you mess up, a method to soften your cookies is to wrap them in a paper towel or cloth and leave them exposed to air overnight, rather than in an airtight cookie case, as recommended for keeping cookies fresh. If you don't have a cookie case, use plastic ziplock bags.
Just for fun I did two character cookies. I was thinking vaguely of the Ogre and his wife from Time Bandits. I wanted to do a whole gallery of elfin faces, but I ran out of dough and they're time consuming to do, compared to the standard.
Before baking:
After baking:
Hope you enjoy trying these yourselves! Many variations are possible- I'm sure you can think of several!
This pic will probably tell experienced cooks everything they need to know. For those who'd like a bit more explanation, scroll down (everyone else should scroll down too- there's more pics as well!).
I call them Peanut Butter Pinwheels. All you need are the two packages you see in the pic. They'll cost about $5 if you get the big package of cookie mix, less for the smaller, obviously. The package of chips will last for several batches of mix, however, so it's very cost-efficient if you want to make a lot of cookies.
It's Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix, and Nestle's Tollhouse Swirled White and DARK chocolate Drops. (Okay, I prefer dark chocolate to milk, and white to dark, and here's both?!! They're mine!)
All you do is mix the flour with some oil and water (and maybe one egg for the large pack), then roll out little balls of dough (wash your hands first, you slob!), flatten them on a cookie sheet, and insert as many chocolate drops as you can fit (the dough will expand, pushing the drops apart), and bake for aprox 10 minutes! Wow- home-baked treats in less time than most commercial breaks these days!
This pic is a lesson in what a single minute longer in the oven can do to your cookie. Unless you like your cookies very crisp, you need to watch them closely in the last five minutes to prevent overbaking. While I agree that some kinds of cookie are meant to be crisp, I rather think this is not one of them. Much better soft and chewy with no black crust underneath. Note the difference in the chocolate drops- the overbaked cookie on the left has burned chocolate as well. The drops should not melt significantly, just soften a bit. Now if you mess up, a method to soften your cookies is to wrap them in a paper towel or cloth and leave them exposed to air overnight, rather than in an airtight cookie case, as recommended for keeping cookies fresh. If you don't have a cookie case, use plastic ziplock bags.
Just for fun I did two character cookies. I was thinking vaguely of the Ogre and his wife from Time Bandits. I wanted to do a whole gallery of elfin faces, but I ran out of dough and they're time consuming to do, compared to the standard.
Before baking:
After baking:
Hope you enjoy trying these yourselves! Many variations are possible- I'm sure you can think of several!