Spider peanut butter blossoms

We had a halloween bake sale at work this week, which inspired me to create a spider version of the classic hershey's peanut blossom cookies.  Taste is usually one of my biggest focuses when baking, however with halloween this weekend, I wanted something to fit the theme as well.  When I first googled for halloween baked goods, I found that many of the recipes didn't look very tasty, and seemed like they took way too much effort decoration wise (like complicated iced sugar cookies!).  Then luckily I stumbled upon some pictures of similar peanut butter spider cookies, and knew I had found a winner.

The base recipe for these - the classic hershey's peanut blossom - is delicious, and should be a staple in your recipe book.  I used nerds for eyes (I do not have the time to fashion my own candy eyes!), and just piped on melted chocolate for legs.  The decorating aspect of it only added about 10 minutes to the whole process.  So if you have a halloween party coming up this weekend, get baking!  Happy Halloween!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pretty soon into starting my internship this summer, I realized that fitting things into my weekly schedule other than work, food and sleep was almost impossible.  As usual, this meant that running/exercise was one of the first things to go out the door so I tried to compensate by keeping myself from buying junk food or dessert at the grocery store.  However I developed a bad habit of eating giant spoonfuls of peanut butter dipped into chocolate chips, repeatedly, every night.  Until one night I glanced at the side of the peanut butter jar and learned just how many calories are in one small spoonful of peanut butter...  This encouraged me to dredge up the recipe for these cookies so I could get my delicious peanut butter and chocolate craving satiated with a cookie or two, without consuming a 1000 calories each night.

These cookies are soft, super peanut buttery, packed full of chocolatey chunks, and wrapped in a thin crisp coating of sugar.  They got rave reviews the first time I brought them to work, but that was also on a crazy day, and half of the comments where things like "this is the first thing I've eaten all day, and this cookie is amazing" (at 5pm).  So I brought in another batch on a less hectic day, and they still got rave reviews, and my cookie tin was emptied pretty rapidly.  So if you are one of the smart people out there who likes peanut butter and chocolate, then I recommend you go bake some cookies.

Peanut butter cookies
Minimally adapted from Smitten kitchen
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened (or microwaved 10 seconds)
1 cup peanut butter (I use smooth)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tb milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Optional: 1/4 cup sugar to roll cookies in

Make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350

1. In a medium bowl, mix the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars with electric beaters until smooth and fluffy
2. Add in the egg, milk, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and mix well.
3. Mix in the flour, just until combined, then mix in the chocolate chips by hand, using a spoon.
4. Pour your 1/4 cup of sugar into a small bowl, if you opt for the sugar coaint.  Using your hands form small balls of cookie dough into balls about 1-1.5 inches wide, roll each ball in sugar, then place on a ungreased cookie tray, about 1 inch apart.  Use a fork and press down to slightly flatten each ball of dough to get your signature peanut butter cookie mark.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating tray half way during baking time, until the edges look slightly golden.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy within 1-2 days (store in an air-tight container).

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons

I must start this post with an apology for my recent lack of posting. While I don't really have a valid excuse, at least I am back with something delicious and impressive. Over the holidays I learned that some of my friends have never tried a french macaron and that Harrods sells them for a whopping £3 per cookie. There seems to be a general consensus that these are very hard to make and not something one does at home, but I figured it was worth a shot. After all, how hard can meringue cookies be?

My first batch of these turned out better than expected - they had the little feet and they tasted pretty good. They were by no means perfect: some were slightly overcooked, my white ones had browned a bit, some of the feet were uneven, etc. But I learned a big secret about homemade macarons - it turns out even the not perfect ones taste delicious... and with that I was hooked on making these. Not only are these super fun to watch in the oven, (with every batch I get excited watching them rise in the oven and grow their cute feet), but people seem very impressed when you bring in homemade macarons and the flavor and color combinations are limitless! I just can't stop making them. Plus its fun to perfect the recipe, changing and improving with each batch.

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

With a name like this, I don't think these cookies need much introduction, one could guess that they would be pretty good.  My first taste of them fresh from the oven, of course confirmed this suspicion.  But once they cooled down and sat for a while, that was when these cookies really shine.  All the flavors seem to meld delightfully together into an amazing soft flavorful chewy cookie.

So I recommend you resist finishing them off straight from the oven, the wait will be worth it.