Spectacular Contraption

On top of being allergic to milk, which excludes a lot of extraneous ingredients from cookies, my boyfriend tends to like only certain types of cookies. A few days ago, I was really getting the urge to bake, so I asked him what he would want that would be new and different. He suggested a combination of peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles.



Now, if you read faithfully (ha), you'll remember the last time I made peanut butter cookies, I didn't really like them, but the recipient said they were good and I decided I just didn't like peanut butter cookies. After making a different recipe from a book that has yet to steer me wrong, I realized that I do actually like peanut butter cookies, just not Martha's.



The most important aspect of this recipe is timing; you want to pull the cookies out a little bit before they actually look ready, but not too early because then they'll be extra crumbly and fall apart.


Peanutdoodles
Makes 2 dozen if you don't eat half of the dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar (preferably superfine)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (preferably unrefined)
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or chewy
Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Sift the flour and baking soda together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars until soft and creamy. Combine the egg, flour mixture, peanut butter, and salt. Add the butter and sugar mixture until smooth.

Wrap the dough in foil or parchment and refrigerate for at least two hours. Meanwhile, make the cinnamon-sugar topping; combine ground cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl with a fork. If you run out, make more in the same ratio. Remove from the refrigerator and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Shape the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls and roll completely in cinnamon sugar mixture before placing at least two inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a fork and use fork to make classic criss-cross patter. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Snicker Delight

My boyfriend (Andrew/gb) is allergic to milk, so I often have the challenge of trying out new recipes that are dairy-free. Luckily, he can have milk as long as it is baked into something, so that broadens my baking horizons a little bit. I have recently just been substituting soy milk in icings as well and will probably be more soy-dependent in the future.



Anyway, he really enjoys sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, especially his mom's recipe. As I didn't have much experience with cookies that aren't chock-full of nuts and chocolate and such, I've been searching endlessly for a recipe for superb snickerdoodles.



I'm assuming I found the recipe a while ago, because it was just randomly saved onto my computer; if I remember correctly, I found it on a forum somewhere after I had googled "Snickerdoodles" in hopes of finally finding that one recipe. I didn't remember ever having made them, so I decided the other day that I should bake him some cookies.



These were rewarding; they weren't as magnificent as his mother's, but they were pretty darn good. Andrew was pumped about them and promptly devoured three or so when I gave them to him. I added some vanilla to the recipe because it seemed a little to utilitarian to be considered as whimsical as Snickerdoodles should be. I thought about adding a little bit of cream of tartar because I have never actually seen a Snickerdoodle recipe without, but in the end I decided to give it a whirl and they turned out just fine.



Snickerdoodles
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl (I recommend using a fork to combine these more thoroughly). Shape dough into 1 3/4-inch balls; roll in cinnamon -sugar mixture. Space 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets; press each ball down gently with three fingers.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.