There are still quite a few Los Angeles Times Culinary SOS recipes on my to-bake list, but I can now cross off one more: The Buttery's Peanut Butter Cookies. Although I've been to Santa Cruz a few times, I haven't had the pleasure of visiting The Buttery. But the name alone makes me want to love the place.
These are slice-and-bake cookies, so you need to plan ahead to allow for chilling time. But other than that timing issue, the recipe is straightforward. You cream together room temperature butter, sugar, and brown sugar; add an egg, followed by chunky peanut butter; and then mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). The recipe specifies superfine white sugar and pastry flour, but I don't stock either -- so I went with regular granulated sugar and White Lily all-purpose flour, which has a low protein content that is close to pastry flour.
The dough was easy to form into a tight log, which I then rolled in dry-roasted peanuts. I didn't bother brushing the dough with egg white first, so to help the nuts adhere, I pushed them gently into the log of dough. I wrapped the log in parchment paper, placed it inside a bunch of small pastry rings (which I always do with slice-and-bake cookies to prevent the bottom of the log from flattening out during chilling), and stuck the dough in the fridge overnight.
When it came time to slice the dough, I couldn't bring myself to cut one-inch slices as specified in the recipe. That would create huge cookies. And while I think that might be the point of this recipe -- the headnote describes these cookies as "massive enough that you almost need two hands to hold them" -- it's not very practical. If I bring massive cookies into the office, my virtuous co-workers will insist on splitting them. So I cut the cookies into half-inch thick slices and I ended up with twenty cookies per batch, or exactly twice the specified yield.
These peanut butter cookies are outstanding. They have a terrific texture that is firm with a good bit of chew in the center. But most of all, they are super peanutty because of the layers of flavor from the peanut butter, the bits of nuts in the dough, and the large pieces of peanuts around the edges. Even at half their intended size, they are completely satisfying. When it comes to pure peanut butter cookies, without the distractions of chocolate or any other mix-ins, this recipe might be my new favorite.
Recipe: "The Buttery's Peanut Butter Cookies," published in the August 11, 2012 Los Angeles Times.
These are slice-and-bake cookies, so you need to plan ahead to allow for chilling time. But other than that timing issue, the recipe is straightforward. You cream together room temperature butter, sugar, and brown sugar; add an egg, followed by chunky peanut butter; and then mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). The recipe specifies superfine white sugar and pastry flour, but I don't stock either -- so I went with regular granulated sugar and White Lily all-purpose flour, which has a low protein content that is close to pastry flour.
The dough was easy to form into a tight log, which I then rolled in dry-roasted peanuts. I didn't bother brushing the dough with egg white first, so to help the nuts adhere, I pushed them gently into the log of dough. I wrapped the log in parchment paper, placed it inside a bunch of small pastry rings (which I always do with slice-and-bake cookies to prevent the bottom of the log from flattening out during chilling), and stuck the dough in the fridge overnight.
These peanut butter cookies are outstanding. They have a terrific texture that is firm with a good bit of chew in the center. But most of all, they are super peanutty because of the layers of flavor from the peanut butter, the bits of nuts in the dough, and the large pieces of peanuts around the edges. Even at half their intended size, they are completely satisfying. When it comes to pure peanut butter cookies, without the distractions of chocolate or any other mix-ins, this recipe might be my new favorite.
Recipe: "The Buttery's Peanut Butter Cookies," published in the August 11, 2012 Los Angeles Times.
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