Crinkly, Craggy tops make these Salted Peanut Butter Cookies unique.

The past fortnight has frenetically flashed by so quickly one cannot seem to catch a breath. Swirling discord filters into the everyday in the current crisis after crisis on a National level, yet the mundane activities of our ordinary lives proceed quietly for those not touched directly, or even distantly, by recent events. It seems extremely trite andtrivial to verbalize thoughts about sugar, vegetables, and the pleasures of cooking when there are so many polarized, ignorant, and hateful opinions being forced upon those who do not fall in line with our own personal beliefs. Attempting to over-justify something to try and persuade others to your line of thinking most often alienates those with opposite viewpoints, rather than living your beliefs. When attempting to enact a change for the positive, the old little saying “Actions speak louder than words” rings true. Donate blood, time, effort, and live the ideals that people are created equal rather than justify why things are fine as they are. Volunteer time at a soup kitchen, or just plain treat someone with kindness and respect when interacting with one who may not agree with you, personally. It can be started with something as simple as a gift of a cookie.

A cookie can represent a multitude of memories, yet can create new pathways and relationships with a simple act of cookie kindness. If someone you know, or are not yet acquainted with, is suffering through a traumatic time or you hope to bridge a gap, or just want to spread a little smile and brighten another person’s day, a gifted cookie will make that day a better day. The concept is something called Random Acts of Cookies, and was long ago inspired by this post from Ashley Rodriguez in 2011. It is a brilliant idea, and I do believe that just the simple act of kindness, combined with a cookie, will assist in alleviating disheartened attitudes in this disjointed climate.

A multitude of textures combined into one little cookie, crisp, delicate, chunky, and tender all in a single bite.

The recipe I am choosing to share is my favored version of Peanut Butter Cookies. These cookies are very easy to throw together after dinner, and then bake up the next day so the dough gets a nice resting time to develop the flavor and you get the bonus of painless cleanup the next day. The medley of ingredients are typical, Peanut Butter, Brown Sugar, Salt, Flour, Butter, among the addition of a few more simple everyday items. However, these cookies are insanely special as the cookie itself if intensely peanut-y, yet not overwhelmingly so from the addition of the sweet little peanut butter chips and a healthy dose of salt inside the cookies and sprinkled on top before baking. The cookie texture is crisp, with a softness that crumbles delicately between your teeth as you chew.

These cookies are enormous - they are each 1/4 cup of the dough. I chill the dough I have rolled into neat little balls overnight , then I bake them in a slightly untraditional method. First, before popping the cookie sheets into the oven, I slightly flatten the cookie balls into little disks to help them spread out a bit while baking. After 6 minutes of baking, I take the baking sheet out and bang it firmly against the top of the stove to help the cookies flatten out. I do this 3-4 times, at 2 minute intervals until I’ve hit about 14 minutes in the oven. Then I allow the cookies to finish baking until they hit 17-18 minutes, where the tops will feel very slightly firm and dry, not tacky. Then I allow the cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes on the hot pan before transferring to a wire rack to completely cool. The cookie that results from this unconventional method is a wonder. The tops get all crinkled and craggy, similar to a Molasses cookie, and it is crisp yet retains that delicate chew and crumble in juxtaposition. It is quite unlike any Peanut Butter Cookie I have made before, and something so special to share.

Salt once agains brings out the intensity of the other flavors in this Salted Peanut Butter Cookie.

I must note that I exclusively use Adams Chunky Peanut Butter for these cookies. This peanut butter contains only peanuts and a hefty dose of salt. The texture is a bit looser than Jif or Skippy, but does not have additional sugar or thickeners to emulsify the peanut butter and the natural oils. I have not made this cookie recipe with anything other than Adams Peanut butter, so I imagine if you choose to use a different brand that has added sugars the resulting cookie may be a bit sweeter.

The original recipe I follow calls for the bake time to be 11-13 minutes. I found that baking the cookies this amount of time resulted in extremely under baked cookies where the sugars and flours were not cohesive and fell apart immediately. I also have found that these cookies are actually best after cooling off, rather than eating them straight from the oven. The flavors settle in and the complexities that the dough has developed during the resting period overnight are more pronounced after the cookies have cooled. That makes this type of cookie to be an excellent gift

These Salted Peanut Butter Cookies are exceptional with a steaming mug of tea.

Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted slightly from this Crazy for Crust Recipe

Servings: 14-16 Giant Cookies

These Salted Peanut Butter Cookies replaced the Peanut Butter Blossoms as my favorite Peanut Butter Cookie in terms of textural elements, the subtle flavor nuances, and the healthy dose of salt that really brings out the true peanut taste morph that standard cookie into something indulgent.

I stay true to the original author’s ingredients and ratios, but I vastly differ on how these cookies bake. It seems like a lot of fussy banging and hovering over the cookies, but honestly, it is pretty cathartic to slam down the baking pan and not be in trouble for it! The texture of the cookies is so wonderful that I really do think it is worth taking the extra step.

These cookies freeze really well, but you can store them in an airtight container for up to 4 days - if they happen to last that long!

Ingredients

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter, softened
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter (I use Adams Chunky Peanut Butter, as I love the texture the chunks of peanuts bring to the cookie)
3/4 Cup packed Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated White Sugar
1 Egg, room temperature
1 Tbsp Milk (I used 2% milk)
3/4 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 package Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
Sea Salt for Sprinkling

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. This should take roughly 5 minutes. Mixture will have lightened up in color and everything will be well incorporated.
Add the egg, vanilla, and milk to the mixer, it should take roughly 1-2 minutes to thoroughly incorporate. Scrape down sides of bowl.
On medium low speed, add in half of the dry ingredients until just combined. Then add the remaining flour. Be careful to not over mix as it will result in tough, hard cookies. If after all flour is added and there are still a few flour spots, you are still good to go.
Release paddle and unhook bowl. With a spatula, mix in the peanut butter chips - any loose flour will incorporate itself at this point.
Using a 1/4 Cup measuring spoon, scoop cookie dough and roll into balls. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet - at this point it doesn’t matter how close together the cookie dough balls are. You should end up with 14-16 cookie dough balls. Cover with Saran Wrap thoroughly and refrigerate overnight.

To Bake:

Preheat Oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
When the oven is preheated, take your chilled cookie dough balls out of the fridge. Place them 5 cookies to a sheet, and slightly flatten the cookie dough balls to encourage spreading in the oven. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with salt.
Bake cookies for 6 minutes (set a timeR!!) then at the 6 minute mark, remove cookie sheet and bang it 3-4 times on the top of the oven. In 2 minute intervals, continue to take the cookie sheet out and bang the cookie sheet 3-4 times on the top of the oven. You will see the cookies start to crack and spread each time you do this. Do not be afraid to aggressively bang the cookie sheet!
Once the cookies have been baking for 14 minutes altogether, including the 5 separate times you bang the cookie sheets, allow the cookies to continue to cook for 3-4 minutes until tops feel dry and slightly set.
Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing cookies to wire racks and cooling completely.