Peanut Butter Cookies, Two Ways

A lot of my cooking experiences have been part of a series of firsts. For example, before I baked them, I don't think I'd ever had a home made peanut butter cookie. I'd had a Nutter Butter...but those don't count. I've never been rabid about peanut butter in general so I think the initial inspiration for these cookies didn't even come from me, but from my roommate. 


However...these are insanely good. They are rich and dense, a peanut butter fudge in cookie form (I'm dubious about using the word fudge because, being cooked through, the cookies aren't wet or mushy at all--but they do have the same characteristic richness). In each thick bite they deliver strong peanut flavor, sweeter than straight peanut butter (natural unsweetened peanut butter, that is) and without peanut butter's roof-of-your-mouth stickiness, which I find kind of off-putting. Munched with a glass of milk to cut through the intensity of their flavor between bites, they're a peanut lover's paradise. 

They're also gluten free, use healthy fats (see note below) and are, depending on your preparation and inclinations, Kosher for Passover (it is debated within the Jewish community whether peanuts may be eaten during Passover or not, as whole peanuts closely resemble other nuts and seeds that may be made into flour, and peanut butter often contains grain products such as corn syrup. More information can be found here and here.) For the most part, however, peanuts are accepted as Kosher for Passover, and peanut butter may be eaten as well, as long as it contains no grain ingredients (i.e. either make it yourself, or buy natural peanut butter, which should contain only peanuts and salt. If purchasing store-bought peanut butter, it should be bought before Passover begins and opened only once Passover has started). 


...once you've made up your mind about making them, the actual cooking process is remarkably easy. 


Combine an egg, a cup of sugar, and a cup of peanut butter in a bowl. 

Mix it around a little. Preheat. 

No, not to 100 degrees. The thing I like about this picture is that if you follow my floury fingerprints you can sleuth out three things: 1. The last thing I made was baked at 400 degrees, 2. It was not gluten-free, 3. I don't clean my (roommate's family's) oven enough.


I swear I live in an apartment and have my own oven and everything. These pictures are just from a couple years ago, when I didn't. And I clean my own oven all the time. 

This is what the dough should look like when you're done mixing it up. With damp hands, shape it into one and a half to two inch balls. 

Using wet hands keeps the dough from sticking to you as you shape it. I find that the fork marks are best made with a sugared fork, however, not a wet one. You can also use a floured fork since these cookies really don't need any more sweetness. In fact, I've tried making them with reduced sugar, but that unfortunately didn't work out so well. Cooking isn't just based on taste, but on the chemistry of how the ingredients interact, and it seems that in this case the full amount of sugar is requisite for that reason, at least. 

One thing I learned the slow way is that you want to take cookies out of the oven while they still appear slightly under-baked, and when in doubt, under-bake rather than over-bake. The edges/bottoms of these should be just barely golden when you take them out. 

I only made traditional peanut butter cookies with half the dough, and with the other half, added chocolate chips. The chips got in the way of making the usual fork tine impressions, so with these, after shaping them into balls, I simply flattened them slightly with my hands. 

Both versions are fantastically delicious. This plateful was gone in record time. 


PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 
Adapted from Stephanie T. via allrecipes.com
Makes roughly 16, depending on the size you make them
Prep time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 10 minutes


Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter (you may use chunky or smooth; I recommend smooth. I also recommend using a peanut butter with no added sugar, see note below)
1 cup sugar (either white or a combination of white and brown; I use white)
1 egg


Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla (see note below), one handful of chocolate chips


Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Combine peanut butter, sugar, and egg (and vanilla, if using) and mix until you have a uniform dough. Fold in chocolate chips, if using. Dampen your hands and roll dough (or use a cookie scoop) to make one and a half to two inch balls, and place them a couple inches apart on a greased cookie sheet (if using chocolate chips, flatten the balls slightly between your hands to a thickness of around 1/2 inch before placing them on the cookie sheet). If not using chocolate chips, flour or sugar the tines of a fork and press it into the cookie twice at perpendicular angles, flattening the cookie to a thickness of about 1/2 inch and making a crosshatch pattern. Bake for 8 minutes or until edges have just begun to turn golden and center still looks slightly under-baked. Cool; as they cool the cookies will firm up and deflate slightly to their desired texture. 


Notes: using peanut butter as the sole fat in these cookies is healthier than using butter, because aside from the additional nutrients found in peanut butter (protein, fiber), peanut butter contains mostly mono-unsaturated fats, which are better for your body than the saturated fat of butter. 


Concerning what peanut butter to use--I have had a weird history with these cookies. The first time I made them, they were perfect. Subsequent times I've had problems with them, and I'm not sure if it's entirely due to me fiddling with the sugar level, or if it's had something to do with what peanut butter I used. I recommend using natural creamy peanut butter (no sugar added) that has been mixed thoroughly so that its oils are fully incorporated. I'm under the weather and can't have sugar, otherwise I'd test these out again right away--I plan on doing so when I get better and making revisions to the recipe, if necessary. If you have any suggestions or ideas, feel free to comment. 


I'm in love with vanilla and try to add it into everything I bake, but in this case I find it genuinely didn't add much, so feel free to leave it out. 

London Tuna Salad

I've had a very love/hate relationship with tuna fish over my lifetime. I remember that in my earliest phase of tuna salad consumption I'd only eat it if it was free of all the mix-ins that tend to be added (celery, as it gets stuck in one's teeth, and celery seeds--I remember wondering why on earth anyone ever added that one). Later on I gave up this puritanism and pursued only salads that did have celery and onions. Still later, I was introduced to a version in which the tuna was mixed so thoroughly and abundantly with mayonnaise that the end result was more like tuna cream, and decided that it was, indeed, the tuna epitome. Throughout all these fluctuations one thing I've noticed is that I seem to only be able to stomach one version of tuna salad at each point in my life--I think something about the fishiness or mayo-iness subtly skeeves me out to where I only find it acceptable in a single format at any given time. 


I could have worse problems. 


This recipe has, for the past few years, endured as my tuna of choice. It was introduced to me by a friend who first had it in London, England (hence its christening) and it incorporates an unexpected ingredient--apples. 

Here's the cast of characters (has The Pioneer Woman trademarked that phrase yet?)--canned tuna, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and an apple (the cheese is optional, used in a version of tuna salad sandwich in which the salad is topped with cheese slices and toasted). 


Simple ingredients, and the method is simple as well--drain the can of tuna, combine with a few tablespoons of mayo, and stir in salt, pepper, and chopped apples. 

A couple tips: mix the tuna and mayonnaise completely before adding the apples pieces. This way, the tuna breaks down uniformly in the mayonnaise and creates a homogeneous, creamy base for the apples. I've found that when I add the apple before the mayo, my tuna pieces are clumpy, and the effort of trying to stir the chunks away often mushes up the apples. On that note--use tart, firm apples! This is not a a recipe for using up old, mushy ones (this is, but we'll get to that later). 

This tuna salad is great on sandwiches or with crackers. When I first heard about the "secret" ingredient, I balked, but was an instant convert--the sweet/tart crunch of apples perfectly offsets the briny tuna and savory, creamy mayo in this salad. God only knows what weird tuna fixation I'll settle on next, but for now, at least, London Tuna Salad is here to stay. 


LONDON TUNA SALAD 
A Svelte Chef recipe
Makes two medium sandwiches, or one very generously filled sandwich 
Prep time: 10 minutes 


Ingredients
One can tuna (preferably packaged in water)
3 tablespoons mayo, or to taste 
A pinch each of salt and pepper (remember that mayo adds saltiness, so add salt after mayo and check to taste)
One quarter to one half (see note below) of a fresh apple (I recommend Granny Smiths, though the above pictures feature Gala. As long as the apple is fresh, sweetness shouldn't be too much of an issue, though I'd stay away from very mellow varieties such as Yellow Delicious)


Optional: slices of sharp cheese (I recommend sharp cheddar, or my favorite, Red Leicester)


Method
Drain tuna. Add mayo and whisk together with a fork until well mixed. Add pepper and salt to taste. Dice your apple (cored and seeded) medium-fine and fold it into the tuna mixture. If using cheese to make a tuna melt sandwich, top a slice of bread with tuna salad and slices of cheese, and put it under the broiler for a couple minutes until the cheese is melted and the bread is slightly toasted (I recommend the broiler over regular oven settings or the microwave because it will toast your cheese while not heating the tuna all the way through). Top with another slice of bread and enjoy!


Note: I have fiddled with the apple to tuna ratio plenty, and I've found that I can make it as much as 1:1 without sacrificing any tuna flavor, since the fish is so intense compared to the apples. I'd recommend starting with less apple and upping the quantity with each successive time you make it until you reach the ratio you prefer. I like to make a very apple-heavy salad because for one thing, it's healthy, and it also cuts the cost, as apples are a lot cheaper than tuna where I live. (Speaking of which, that sadly is not my kitchen in the top photo, but that of my roommate's family. The kitchen of my NYC apartment involves a lot less sunlight and a lot more psychopathic pigeons). 

Hello World

Here it is--my first post. If you had told me five years ago that someday I'd be writing a cooking blog, I would have called you crazy. At that time, my only experience with baking and cooking involved cleaning the mounds of dirty dishes I invariably created whenever I walked into the kitchen and trying to peer at my handiwork through the blackened oven window as whatever I had put inside progressed from batter to baked good to charcoal. Biscuits, cookies, cakes--you name it, I could burn it. 

However, around four years ago I met my current roommate, and suddenly had an audience--a hungry, demanding, audience--for my cooking. My parents don't each much meat, fat, wheat, sugar...the list goes on. One bite of whatever I made as an appetizer before their daily bowl of quinoa wasn't exactly the reception I craved, and their attitude about food, while healthy, which is more than I can say about most Americans, didn't foster an environment of culinary creativity and diversity. My roommate's interest in eating and his family's enthusiastic approach to food opened me up to cooking, and I realized it's not only a way to get good things in your mouth; it's an art. The process of cooking is an exercise in all the senses--the arresting burst of chili oil on your tongue, the rough embrace of flour gripping your fingertips as you work butter into it, the faint sweet smell of baking cake that signals to the practiced nose that it's almost done; and, since I started incorporating photography into my recipes, the banquet of visual beauty I had hitherto overlooked. 

This blog is documentation of my quest to cook, based on my love of making things and eating things--and I can guarantee that each story will have if not a sweet, at least a fulfilling, ending.