The BEST Peanut Butter Cookies. Ever.

I love baking cookies. I love eating up the cookie dough. The problem (well it could be a blessing) is that I don't really like to eat them after I have made them. I will eat a few fresh out of the oven, but the next day, I am kind of over it. I don't think it is because I make bad cookies. Everyone else seems to like them. I just don't think they are that good if they aren't right out of the oven. I even try to mimic that by microwaving them a few seconds to make them soft and melty. It helps but I am still not excited about the cookies any more.

Until I found this recipe on my favorite food blog Chocolate Covered Katie. Remember my earlier dessert-aholic blog about finding her healthy dessert blog? I also hadn't tried any of the recipes at that point and promised to report back. In all honesty I have made probably 10 of her recipes but unfortunately I never reported back. Why not? Because the times I made her very easy and very quick recipes was when an intense craving had come upon me and I had to get dessert and get it FAST! Based on the immediacy on which I needed the dessert, the process and result didn't last long. At long last though, I had to share one recipe because it makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Katie calls it her Secret Peanut Butter Cookies. I don't know what the secret is, except maybe they are the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had. Yum yum and yum! They also are very quick and easy to make and result in just one pan. Which is just enough with the speed on how these cookies disappear.

You will need the following ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 tsp baking soda

3 T flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 T brown sugar

2 T applesauce

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

First mix all the dry ingredients together.

Then add all the wet ingredients.

Then mix them together with a few simple strokes of a spoon.

Drop them into small balls onto your greased cookie pan.

Grab a fork to give them a criss-cross pattern and stick into the oven for 6 - 8 minutes on 350. I like mine chewy so I took them out at 6 minutes. 8 minutes gives you crispier cookies with just a little bit of chewiness.

Did you know that cookies still bake slightly after you take them out of the oven?! I never even thought of that but it blows my mine! Since I am into the chewier more cookie dough like cookies (another solution to my cookie boredom as mentioned earlier) I will know take out all my cookies early.

Do you have any favorite cookie recipes? If so, please pass them along. I can even feature them on the blog if you would like! I am always up for trying new recipes!

PS - Looking back at these pictures it solidifies our need for new lighting in the kitchen. I apologize for everything being YELLOW! Grr. Florescent lights, yellow countertops, yellow walls, yellowish cabinets. Look at this kitchen house tour post to see all of that and more.

Christmas Cookies and What I Learned

A holiday tradition that my family has done for years and that Eric and I have carried on are Christmas sugar cookies. It is a recipe that my family has had for a very long time and is the perfect recipe! The cookies are not too sweet yet are delicious. They are also so fun to cut into shapes and decorate! Making these cookies is such a good way to kick off the holidays, have a fun bonding experience with whoever you are making them with, and have a nice holiday treat to share! So I thought I would share this with you today.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
• 1.5 cups confectionery sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 t almond/lemon extract (optional)
• 2.5 cup of flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cream of tarter

Thoroughly mix butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and extract.

Blend in flour, baking soda, and cream of tarter.

this is what the finished dough should look like. Cover and chill 2-3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Divide dough in half and roll out on lightly floured board or waxed paper. Cut desired shapes and add sprinkles.

These are some cookie cutters that we have had since my childhood! Makes it even more special.

Cookies ready to be put on the pan. Carefully roll away extra dough away from edges of cut-outs and use spatula to put on pan. This is where it all fell apart for us. Make sure to flour well and keep dough chilled before rolling out.

Bake on lightly greased baking pan 7 minutes.

Remember I said that this was a tradition? Well, unfortunately I have made grumpiness part of this tradition recently.  This is where the lessons come in :). I am a perfectionist and want the cookies to be magazine ready. When you start working with cut-outs it makes it a little trickier -- especially when it is later at night (we started making the cut-outs at 9pm - my bed time is usually 10pm on weeknights. What can I say, a good night's sleep is essential!). This is the first year I realized that I am always grumpy when I am making these cookies because I am trying to make them perfect. Eric was a wonderful help in pointing out that the cookies will taste the same whether they are in a pretty shape or not. So lesson learned, that perfection does not have to be outlined by creating a pretty shape or getting the perfect sprinkles on the cooking. Perfection is spending time with your husband, making cookies to share, and enjoying the holiday season. Not having something to brag about. Humility lesson learned. We did get to enjoy these fine looking cookies though! Yummy!

So this is something that I ask each and every reader to remind yourself this busy and sometimes hectic holiday season: perfection is not in finding each person the gift that they will always remember or decorating your house so when people drive by they slow down. The holiday season is remembering to look around you and find ways to give back and love. Whether it is baking cookies for someone, donating to the Salvation Army, picking up that piece of trash you would normally walk by, or however you feel best at expressing giving back.

So go against that pull of the overwhelming holidays and remember what is important. So take a deep breathe and enjoy! Hopefully after this post your deep breathe will be inhaling the aroma of fresh baked Christmas cookies. We still have some to share in the Rapp house so please feel free to stop by for a break and a cookie!