Peanut Butter Cookies

My family & I went sledding this past weekend and when we came in I made some hot chocolate and these cookies. Nothing is better than coming inside from the cold to have a nice cup of hot chocolate, Swiss Miss, of course!

The recipe is adapted slightly from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Ingredients & Directions:

• 1 1/4 cups 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 at room temperature (I like smooth better, but you can use chunky too)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For sprinkling: 1 tablespoon sugar, regular or superfine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.

Place sprinkling sugar — the remaining tablespoon — on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.

Using a fork, lightly indent with a crisss-cross pattern (I used the back of a small offset spatula to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Banana Blueberry Lemon Muffins

My favorite thing to make with really ripe bananas is banana bread, but this time I wanted to make something different. I was going to make plain banana muffins, but then came across this recipe on Dragon’s Kitchen and knew what had to be done. Fortunately, I had all the ingredients for these muffins, because who wants to go to the grocery store in a snow storm?

Ingredients & Directions:

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup blueberries
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pan with muffin liners. Grate your lemon now if you don’t already have some in your kitchen and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the lemon rind. Stir in dry ingredients until blended.

Beat together bananas, eggs, brown sugar, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until blended.

Fold in blueberries just until combined.

For the topping, combine sugar and remaining lemon rind in small dish.

Fill muffin liners almost to the top. Sprinkle Lemon Sugar mixture evenly over the muffins. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

These muffins were delicious. I warmed one up the next morning on a griddle with a tiny bit of butter for breakfast. Seriously, these are some of the best muffins I have ever made.

This is from my other blog Two Cost Table.