Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm slow about actually posting things.  If you didn't know this about me already, you should make a note of it now.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I asked my neighbor (who happens to be an accountant) for some help sorting out my taxes.  The Turbo Tax program was telling me I owed money but I was pretty sure that wasn't right.  Sure enough, my neighbor got me sorted out and told me what form I needed to fill out and submit for everything to work out properly.  She, being the very sweet lady that she is, didn't charge me anything.  So I decided to bake her some cookies.  I figured she could use a sugar rush to get through crunch time anyway.  This was just before Easter weekend.  I'm not sure why, but I had a craving for peanut butter cookies, it just seemed like Easter cookies to me for whatever reason, but not the typical ones -- I wanted something new.  I don't know how or why, but I though of white chocolate chips.  I don't know how my brain works most of the time either, don't worry.  But out of nowhere, my new favorite cookie was born!

I ended up making the first batch just a bit more crumbly than I wanted, but I couldn't resist making another batch -- seriously, they were yummy! -- so I tweaked them then.

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted from the Joy Of Cooking's peanut butter cookie recipe)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup, packed, brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter (I used creamy because that's what I had, but use what you like)
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375, or 350 if using convection.
2. In a bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars.
4. Add eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla.
5. Slowly add dry ingredients, so you don't end up with flour all over you.
6. Add milk.  Mix until well blended.
7. Add chips.
8. Scoop onto cookie sheet -- I used a cookie scoop but rounded tablespoonfuls would probably be about the same.  No need to flatten, as with traditional peanut butter cookies.
9. Bake 10-12 minutes.
10. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.
11. Enjoy!

Cakes!

There's a wedding on the horizon.  Not mine.  Not even that of a close friend.  A friendly acquaintance is getting married tomorrow evening (Sunday).  Very casual and sudden -- although they've been together for six years, they started planning the wedding maybe a month ago.  I got my invitation via my friend (the bride's coworker) leaving a voicemail for me last weekend.  Reminds me of what my parents' wedding must have been like more than 30 years ago.

Last night was the joint bachelor/bachelorette party.  My friend was organizing it as the sort of honorary Maid of Honor (the bride's sister decided she wasn't going to make it), and I offered to make the cakes  -- both to help my friend and as a gift to the bride and groom.  I'd never met the groom (before last night) but nevertheless I wanted to make some delicious cakes for the two of them.  Vanilla for her and chocolate with some strawberries for him.

Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Jesse and decided to stop at Michael's for some cake boxes on the way back to the school to drop him off.  Big mistake, taking Jesse into Michael's...although it worked out fairly well, I must admit.  While I was looking for the right box size (unsuccessfully) Jesse was looking at the shiny, giant "diamonds" and called my attention to a pink one.  I was already planning on dying the bride's vanilla cake pink since she's a girly girl but didn't have any embellishments for the outside.  I decided that would be the perfect topper.  Then, Jesse decided we needed to find something for the top of the groom's cake.  Naturally, this was not easy to do, but after bouncing ideas back and forth with a sales associate for a bit we ended up looking at action figure toys for a dragon.  I guess they are the only "manly" things Michael's carries.  We settled on two dragons that looked like they were battling.  Boys.  Okay, the toppers kind of made the cakes awesome in addition to delicious, so maybe next time I'll bring him in as a design consultant or something...maybe.

Daddy's Birthday

Happy birthday, Daddy!

In the past year or two I've been discovering baking and cooking.  And since I became a Pinterest addict last summer, seeing all of those incredible ideas and recipes has inspired me to expand my repertoire.  However, since I've also been trying to lose weight, as has my entire household, I needed actual reasons to make some of the more decadent and delicious desserts.


Well yesterday was my dad's birthday.  I asked him last week what kind of cake he wanted for the occasion -- fully expecting him to reply with his favorite "Sunshine Cake."As cakes go, Sunshine Cake isn't bad -- really, is there such a thing as a bad cake? -- but it's fairly basic:  some sort of yellow butter or buttermilk cake and chocolate frosting.  However, Daddy is full of surprises and wanted to ponder it for a while.  No problem!


Now, my dad loves peanut butter.  Not really to the obsessive, everything-must-be-peanut-butter-flavored level, but he does love the stuff.  I had recently stumbled across a random pin on Pinterest for a peanut butter cake.  I'd never though of such a thing so the idea stuck with me although it didn't particularly interest me, aside from the immediate thought, "I'll bet Daddy would love that!"

So, being the patient woman that I am, I asked him every day for the next few days if he'd decided on a cake yet.  After a couple days he was still pondering and I made the suggestion.  He thought about it for about a second before deciding that was exactly what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday.  I asked him what kind of frosting he wanted and he said peanut butter.  Of course!


So I spend the next couple days searching online for good recipes for peanut butter cake and frosting.  I finally decided on this one from AllRecipes.com but I couldn't just leave well enough alone; I had to tweak it as I went.  Partly because, living in Colorado, I have to adjust nearly every recipe for high altitude.  And partly because, well...it's fun!  So here's my recipe as it developed:


Cream 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup softened butter, and 3/4 cup sugar in a mixer.  Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and mix well.  Sift or whisk 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder together.  Add to creamed mixture in 3 parts, alternating with 1 cup milk in 2 parts.


Here, I discovered that this recipe was not intended for multi-layer cakes.  But I persevered and divided the batter between two 9" round pans I had coated with Wilton's Cake Release.  If you follow this recipe, be sure to level the cakes as well as you can before baking them.  This batter doesn't level itself out much, and I could still see some of the spreading pattern from my spatula.  They will dome a bit, though.  In an attempt to prevent doming, since I didn't have much cake to begin with I lowered the temperature and extended the time.  They baked at 300 (convection) for 30 minutes at first, then I added more time.  I think I ended up baking them for around 40-50 minutes, but since they were thin layers that helped speed things up.  Still, in the end I think I may have slightly over-baked them because it came out a bit dry.  Not horrible, just not moist.  Oh well.


For the frosting, cream 1/3 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup softened butter, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract in a mixer.  Sift together 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 cups confectioners' sugar.  Add to creamed mixture in 3 parts, alternating with 1/3 cup milk in 2 parts.  Mix until smooth.

This was when I discovered that I'd have to double the frosting recipe because I was doing the layers.  I did end up having a bit left over at the end, but I figure it's almost like Nutella so it'll get eaten up.

Completely frosted.  Yum...!

I used some peanut butter chips that were in the cupboard to pretty it up a bit.