It’s that time of year where the back to school supplies are hitting the shelves and everyone is starting to talk about donation drop of locations, if one’s school is switching to the “balanced calendar” etc.  To me… this only means one thing… the sooner we are to cooler weather, fall decorations, Halloween, and comfort food (ok, I guess a few things).

Over the last couple of months, I have learned that I am a comfort cook. I love to make casseroles, slow cooker meals, soups, etc. In the spring and summer months, we survive on grilled chicken/pork, rice and veggies. Nothing really too fancy… BUT bear with me and I will have a more diverse set of recipes come this next spring and summer.

ANY WHO….. yes back to school. I will always remember that sometimes my mom would have milk and cookies for us kids after school for when we were doing our homework.  This would be a great recipe for that first day of school for either lunches or as a way to coax information out of your child about their first day (ha!)

Michigan Ingredients: Peanut Butter, Butter, Farm Fresh Egg(s), Sugar, Brown Sugar

Seriously working it with the Meijer items eh? What can I say, I love that store.  Then of course the farm fresh eggs as you can recall from my little rant in my last post.

Combine your dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl (flour, oats, baking soda, and baking powder)

Cream your butter (which is softened) and peanut butter. I know that a lot of peanut butter cookie recipes do not include butter, but these are gourmet cookies and hey, why not?

Add your sugars….

Add one whole egg and one egg white, vanilla… and a splash of milk. The splash is maybe 1/2 a tablespoon. Not too much.

Try not to consume this.  I know it will be hard to do as *I* had a difficult time.

Add your dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Imagine a picture of me doing that here :).

This recipe is what got me my KitchenAid (Professional KitchenAid).  My husband loves this recipe and would see me struggle when I would add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. If you are using a hand mixture, it will come together; it just might fight you a bit…. totally worth the battle. If you have a KitchenAid, it will seem a little more violent rough than most cookies, but it won’t break it. PROMISE!

Another piece to the Gourmet puzzle…. One cup of peanut butter chips. I know that when I was testing this recipe out a few years ago, I started out with adding more peanut butter but decided that if I added more  I would have to had more dry and yada yada yada… so the thought of adding the peanut butter chips came to mind. It was the missing piece.

Add your peanut butter chips and mix until just combine.

Grab some dough and start rolling. You want to make them about the size of walnuts. You don’t have to measure (weigh), you can just eyeball them.  Roll them in sugar (you will not need that much sugar – I always have sugar left over which sadly gets thrown away). This is the point where I would turn my oven on to preheat to 350 degrees.

The secret to making these cookies look fancy: a potato masher. I always have had a hard time using the fork method; I don’t know why. BUT… my husband had this amazing idea to use the potato masher and see if that would work. This does wonders and the “indents” actually stay; whereas when I would use the fork method, the indents would bake out and not look fancy. Press the masher length and width wise.

Look at these beauties. When you make the indents, the cookie might separate (meaning the edges might crack and not have the perfect shape), so be sure to try and press the cookie back together to make it “shapely.”

Bake for 11-13 minutes. This recipe makes about 30-33 cookies. I know that these are not like my typical mega large cookies. It shocks me too; however, it is one of those recipes where you have to think about when you put the cookies on the pan and you have to press them down (flatten but not flatten). I would recommend eating at least 5 2 cookies. Enjoy!

Gourmet Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Author:

Michigan from Scratch

Recipe type: Cookies

Serves: 30 cookies

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 13 mins

Total time: 28 mins

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A gourmet cookie that is perfect for after school or impressing your friends

Ingredients

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ stick of Butter, softened
• 1⅔ cups of Peanut Butter
• ½ cup White Sugar
• ¾ cup Brown Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Egg White
• 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla
• Splash of milk (roughly ½ tablespoon)
• 1 cup Peanut Butter Chips
• Additional white sugar for rolling

Instructions

1. Combine your flour, old fashioned oats, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Cream together your softened butter and peanut butter until creamy. Add your white and brown sugars and cream again.
3. Add your egg, egg white, vanilla, and splash of milk. Mix until well combined.
4. Add your dry ingredients to your creamed mixture until well combined.
5. Add your peanut butter chips and mix until just combined (don't over-mix).
6. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
7. Place some white sugar in a bowl, no more than a cup and measure the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll the cookie balls into the sugar and place one a cookie sheet.
8. Use a potato masher and press the indents in the cookie to make it look fancy and press any cracks in the edges together.
9. Bake your cookies in your preheated oven (350) for 11-13 minutes.

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Now that’s it’s starting to get hot out and you still want to indulge in something sweet and handheld, by all means make No Bakes! This is a cookie that people typically make during the holidays; but in my family, we make it all year round.  One mega bonus is that it doesn’t heat up the kitchen to a blazing million degrees. During the summer months, if we want chocolate chip cookies or any cookies that you have to use the oven, we usually either make them in the evening or early morning hours.

This recipe comes from my husband’s grandmother. The one thing that I modified with this recipe is changing the quick cooking oats to old fashion as using old fashion oats tends to have the cookie set better. I know that every other recipe I had used would not set right and this is such a simple recipe that you should have no problem.

Michigan Ingredient: Sugar

First things first, place your sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in a pan. Bring it to a boil while constantly whisking.

Once the mixture is violently rapidly boiling, start your timer for one minute. It will seem like it will boil over, but it won’t. Do not be intimidated or scared. Trust me.  After the minute is up, remove from the heat and add your vanilla and peanut butter.

Please imagine this mixture being perfectly poured over3 1/2 cups of beautiful old fashioned oats. Mix until combined.

After it is combined, you can either use a scoop or a spoon to “spoon” the mixture onto wax paper. Try to patiently wait to let the cookies set (15-20 minutes).

If you use a scoop, there will more than likely be some left in the scoop at the end; which is ok, because you can have a tiny taste just to make sure it won’t poison your loved ones.

I love making these cookies all year round (as previously stated above) not only because of the simplicity; but also because it reminds my husband of growing up. It’s amazing to me how a smell or foods can bring memories flooding back.

No Bake Cookies

 

Author:

Michigan from Scratch

Recipe type: Cookie

Serves: 18 cookies

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Save Print

 

A cookie that can be made year round and is especially great in the hot summer months so you don't have to turn on the oven.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Sugar
• ¼ cup of Cocoa
• ½ cup Milk
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla
• 1 cup Peanut Butter
• 3½ cup Old Fashion Oats

Instructions

1. Bring sugar, cocoa, milk and butter to a rapid boil. Boil for one minute.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat and add vanilla and peanut butter.
3. Pour over oats and scoop (spoon) onto wax paper.
4. Patiently wait 15-20 minutes for cookies to set.

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