Best Peanut Butter Cookie Quest: Part One

You may have noticed that I'm capricious and that I get really "into" things for brief periods of time.  Awhile ago it was sewing.  Then photography.  Bikes for quite some time, but never long enough to hone any lasting expertise.  At one point it was the South, and this week it's Twitter, secret cafes, and Rickshaws.  I'm gearing up to be real into camping and web design, but in the meantime, I'm still all about baking—possibly my longest-running hobby—and therefore I have decided, as much as a noncommittal kid can, to undertake a quest for my personal favorite peanut butter cookie of all time.  Did I mention that the quest is going to be totally delicious?  Oh yes, absolutely yes.

This one here used to be my all-time favorite, but this time around I found the peanut butter flavor wasn't pronounced enough, partially because I think there might be too much butter, but also because the chocolate overpowered the peanut butter chips.  This is a peanut butter cookie recipe for a chocolate-lover, which I am, but which preference I will forego in favor of something more sincerely peanut buttery.  Stay posted:  If I don't suddenly decide to take up furniture design, I think constant baking energy could do us some sweet, sweet wonders.

Peanut Butter Cookies (makes 50 to 60 small cookies)

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (I used hand-milled chunky, but apparently the fake shit works best)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 large egg at room temperature

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter chips (I'd up to 3/4)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chips (I'd decrease to 1/4)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  In a small bowl, mix flour baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter on medium-high until light and fluffy, two to three minutes.  Add in sugars and beat until smooth.  Add egg and mix well.  Add milk and vanilla, and a little bit at a time, beat in flour mixture.  Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix in all of the chips.

3.  Put a couple tablespoons of sprinkling sugar on a plate, and by rounded teaspoonfulls, drop balls of cookie dough onto the sugar and roll them around until covered.  Place the balls onto your cookie sheets (mine were bare, but parchment paper never hurts), press down lightly with a fork, and toss 'em in the oven for ten to 12 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Leave cookies on sheets for one minute only, then remove to a cooling rack to let cool completely.  These are awesome after they've been sitting for about an hour, eaten in groups of five or six.

Best Sugar Cookies + Tooth and Nail Craft Fair

I am seriously relieved to learn that sugar cookies go really well with beer.  All this time I spent bemoaning (and well, celebrating too) the cold and the winter, and suddenly spring is here and it's warm as hell, and I didn't think I'd ever want to put anything sweet in my mouth ever again.  Okay yeah, the future tastes like summery pies and the Californian in me is practically throwing a tantrum for stone fruit tarts, but sweet sweets have been another story.  Then I came across this recipe that yields the most perfectly shortbready sugar cookie of all time, and while I sprinkled pepper on some, herbs on others, and topped a few with ground coffee, all variations went equally well with my spring beer of choice, which is most excellent because I can't imagine a day without a baked good or a spring day without a beer.

Well, and part of the reason I was feeling anti-supersweet is because I've been occupied with testing recipes over and over again for the past three weeks as preparation for selling baked goods at a craft fair. Hooray! DC's Bored of Trade arts collective threw the Tooth and Nail Craft Fair at the Velvet Lounge on Saturday, and it brought together all kinds of vendors, from Treasury Vintage and Smash Records to a DC comics collective and the makers of instruments crafted from salvaged wood and toys.  Cookies out of a suitcase and tartlets out of a library card catalogue, and the super supportive crowd still ate up all 107 of my baked goods.  It was an honor and a pleasure, and next time there will be sugar cookies too.

Lindsay Shere's Sugar Cookies

Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated white sugar, plus a little extra for rolling

1 extra-large egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh rosemary, cracked black pepper, finely ground coffee, or other toppings of your choice

1.  In a large bowl, cream the butter at high speed, about one minute.  Add the sugar and beat three to four minutes longer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

2.  Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat a few more minutes, until light and fluffy again.  Slowly add the flour and salt, and mix at a low speed until the dough (thick by this point) comes together.  Shape the dough into two logs about 11/2 inches in diameter, roll the logs in sugar, then wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once the dough is firm, slice it into quarter-inch-thick rounds, place them on the baking tray with about an inch of space between them, and besprinkle each with the topping of your choice.  Bake for ten to 12 minutes, until they're lightly browned on the bottom.  Let sit on the tray for one to two minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Molasses-Gingerbread Cupcakes with Coffee Icing

Forgive me for the unseasonably and unfairly long list of ingredients, but I promise these are totally worth it. You know the drill—punchy, no-bullshit flavors that I can't effectively persuade you into trying, partly because February is the longest month of all time and I'm completely exhausted, but mostly because: Molasses. Ginger. Coffee. Chocolate. There's not much else to say! So much love though, from my sometimes churlish kitchen to yours.

Gingerbread Cupcakes
Adapted from The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco

3/4 cup stout beer, such as Guinness
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly brewed coffee
3/4 cup dark molasses, such as Grandma's
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil
3 tablespoons Demerara sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Candied ginger, cut into thin strips, for topping

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Using two cupcake tins, line 18 cups with silicone or paper liners.

2.  In a large saucepan, bring the beer, coffee, and molasses to a gentle boil.  Whisk together to combine. Remove from the heat and whisk in the baking soda (it will bubble quite a bit); let the mixture sit for five minutes to cool.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, Demerara, and grated fresh ginger.  Whisk in the egg.  In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt.  In three additions of each, alternately whisk the flour mixture and the beer mixture into the brown sugar mixture to combine.

4.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling them about three-quarters of the way each.  Bake for 20 minutes without opening the oven.  Then, rotate the tins and bake until the cakes spring back to the touch or until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, about five minutes more. Invert the cupcakes onto a rack, turn them top up, and let cool completely.  Proceed to icing!

Coffee Icing
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (I used 3/4 cups, see below)
4 tablespoons coffee (I used two of coffee and also two of heavy cream)
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.  I'm not too into the taste of confectioners' sugar, so I used half of what KD recommended and made mine more of a glaze than a thick icing. I accidentally brewed my coffee too strong too, so I used cream for half the liquid to temper the taste.  Add your sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk in the coffee (cream), molasses, and vanilla.  Add more sugar if you want to thicken it up, or more coffee or cream if you'd rather thin it out.

2.  Dip tops of cupcakes in the icing, top with strips of candied ginger, and let icing set for 30 minutes.  Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to three days.

P.S. I don't always redo my banner to match my most recent posting, just this once!

Coconut Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Last weekend was a weekend of cravings ignored and answered. First on Saturday morning, cake donuts infiltrated my dreamscape (sprinkles too) and prodded me awake with the hope for donuts and coffee. It is a combination that's so very unobtainable to a tired-eyed girl on a snowy Saturday morning, but a craving so acute that I'll be splashing around with hot oil and a splatter guard in the near future. Then there was a barbeque chips vs. brie vs. chocolate dilemma at the store; it ended poorly, and my self-preservation is prompting me not to recount. Then came a good and proper craving that I could master and that wouldn't involve Joey whispering devilishly in my ear to just get all three. And as much as taste, this recipe answered a craving for textures.  Airy cake with fluffy frosting and hunky shards of flaked coconuts, and well...

Coconut Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes between 16 and 18

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, packed
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites (so four whites all together)
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or so large-flake unsweetened coconut, for tops of cakes

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with 16 liners to start.  Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about two to three minutes.  Add eggs to butter one at a time, beating after each addition, then add whites and beat.  Measure coconut milk, and add vanilla to the same measuring cup.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with coconut milk mixture and ending with dry ingredients; whisk after each addition until just incorporated.  Scrape sides of bow to make sure batter is evenly mixed.

3.  Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full, and bake for 20 to 23 minutes until domed tops are springy to the touch and cake testers inserted in the centers come out clean.  Turn out of tins and let cool on wire racks.  Frost (recipe follows) one at a time, sprinkle large-flaked coconut on top, and serve immediately.  These are best the same day, but will keep at least overnight, covered.  I didn't manage to let any stick around longer than that to see what happened.

Marshmallow Frosting
Classic recipe, with more frills according to Martha Stewart, less according to Joy of Cooking

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 light corn syrup or golden syrup (the latter will lend a more caramel- or honey-like taste)
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1.  Combine all ingredients and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.  Beat at high speed with an egg beater for six to seven minutes, or until frosting is thick and fluffy.  Remove from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled.  Use the same day.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Maybe pancakes aren't a baked good, but in the midst of the snowiest winter the District has witnessed since 1898, I'm inclined to believe that almost anything with flour (rapidly depleting as we head into the seventh day of snowy annihilation) counts as a baked good. Hamburger buns? Yes. Pizza crust? Close enough. Pancakes? Sure thing! And if you're still not feelin' it, well, these pancakes get you to exercise the single most important baking preparation skill of all time, which is whipping eggs, a skill my father showed me when I was a wee thing who wanted to eat belgian waffles for every breakfast.  My mom taught me to cook, but I have to give heaps of credit to my pops too since the alchemy of egg-whipping is what attracted me to manipulating food through baking. 

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart's The Original Classics

If you don't have buttermilk or don't have three cups worth, just make your own by mixing one tablespoon of distilled white vinegar with one cup of milk (for every one cup of buttermilk) and setting it aside for ten minutes to curdle.  Also, if you don't feel like whipping your egg whites, just beat the eggs together and whisk them in all at once.  The results will still be tasty!

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
Whites from two large eggs, beaten until soft peaks have formed
3 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 extra tablespoon melted for brushing the pan between pancakes
About one cup fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries, or one to two thinly sliced bananas, or a half-cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit, this is for keeping the pancakes warm while you continue cooking them.

2.  Place cast iron or regular frying pan on medium heat.  Whisk all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the buttermilk, lightly beaten egg yolks, and melted butter, and whisk just until combined.  You want batter that's pretty lumpy, so don't over mix.

3.  In a clean, glass measuring cup or bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy, about one minute. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for about two minutes more, or until soft peaks have formed.  You'll know that you have soft peaks when you turn your mixer off, remove it from the egg whites, and the little peaks left from the beater marks maintain their shape, but curl over on top.  Using a rubber spatula, plop egg whites on to batter, and gently fold in (do not stir!) until egg whites are distributed.  Batter should still be lumpy.

4.  Test the heat of your pan by sprinkling some water droplets on it.  If the sizzle and shake, you're good to go.  Brush the pan with a thin layer of butter, and pour out your pancake batter using a half-cup measurer.  In an amount to your liking, add your blueberries to the pancakes' up-sides.  Let cook until golden brown, from two to three minutes, then flip and let cook for a minute more.  Using an oven-safe plate, slide your pancakes into the oven to keep warm.

5.  Repeat with remaining batter, and serve warm with toppings of your choice.  We went with powdered sugar and agave nectar, but last time did bananas, pecans, and maple syrup.  Enjoy!