Making Cookies

One of my favorite memories from my childhood is baking cookies with my mom. I remember when I learned to roll dough into little balls. Some got rolled in sugar, some we added drops of water to the tops, others we rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture and more got “smashed” with a fork to make a crisscross on them. My mom had one recipe that we called “Christmas Cookies” because at Christmas time mom added extra flour to the dough so they could be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters. My siblings and I loved to add the colored sugar, candy sprinkles, red cinnamon candies or tiny silver balls to our masterpieces. We often had a limit of how many we each were allowed to decorate so that everyone got to do their fair share as there were 6 kids in my family. That same brown sugar cookie recipe was used all through the year, but mom would divide it into 3 parts – one for making plain cookies, the 2nd for adding raisins and the 3rd for chocolate chips. I can still see us kids hanging out in the kitchen with mom while the cookie factory was in operation! Sweet memories!

So yes, my suggestion for today is to make cookies with your favorite kiddos! Let them help with getting out the needed utensils, measuring ingredients, cracking eggs (maybe into a separate cup!) and dumping ingredients into the mixing bowl. And especially let them learn to roll the dough into balls if that’s what your recipe calls for. Yep, your kitchen will likely be a disaster afterwards but they will love making cookies with you and you will be creating special, special memories!

My hubby and I have both been hungry for Peanut Butter cookies lately so today I decided to try making some in a new way. I’ve been seeing recipes for Peanut Butter cookies that use no flour. After reading several, I came up with my own version. They are good! (I know, that sounded like I am shocked, didn’t it? That doesn’t say much for my cooking abilities, does it?! ha!)

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

With a mixer, blend 1 C. peanut butter with 1/2 C. white sugar and 1/4 C. brown sugar. Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into medium sized balls and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Use a fork to press the dough down making a crisscross pattern on top of each ball. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Since this is the first time I’ve made them, I’m not sure how long they will keep. I only got 17 cookies out of my batch so you’ll probably want to double or triple the recipe!

NOW…if your husband is anything like mine, you may want to do what I did in the following picture.

As I often tell my hubby, “I trust you with my life, but I don’t trust you with my cookies!!” LOL