XL Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Cookies from Crazy for Crust

XL Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Cookies - made dough August 2, 2024, modified slightly from Crazy for Crust 

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 1/2 cups (434 grams) all-purpose flour

1 package (about 1 2/3 cups) Reese's peanut butter chips

1 1/2 cups chopped peanuts, optional

Peanut butter cups for "stuffing"

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and no butter lumps remain, 2-3 minutes. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined.
2. Add eggs, vanilla and milk, mixing until just combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together salt, baking soda and flour. Add to butter mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Fold in peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts, mixing until evenly disbursed.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size or larger dough balls and flatten slightly to thick discs. Place a peanut butter cup on top of one disc. cover with a second disc and press the seams closed. Roll into a smooth ball to seal in peanut butter cup. Repeat with remaining discs. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space 5-6 dough discs. Bake 15-18 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

All right, peanut butter lovers, peanut butter cup lovers and lovers of all things peanut butter and chocolate, step on up. I should also add lovers of thick cookies that don't spread flat and lovers of stuffed cookies. This recipe has them all.

Dorothy Kern of Crazy for Crust has reliably solid-good recipes and this one is no exception. I had bought Reese's peanut butter cup (thins) for another recipe but decided to modify this recipe and use them for this one. I had also bought a Costco-sized package of Reese's peanut butter cup "medals", presumably overstock from the Olympics and they worked nicely as well.

The easiest way to "stuff" these cookie is to make 2 equal size balls, flatten slightly, put a peanut butter cup in the middle of one, place another flatten cookie disc on top of it, pinch the edges together and roll to form a smooth ball.

I like to chill the stuffed cookie dough balls first but this dough handled pretty well (wasn't too soft or sticky) so you may be able to skip some of the chilling time. I just prefer it for extra insurance that the cookies won't spread much.

As you can see from the pictures, these stayed nice and thick, somewhat but not quite hiding those lumpy middles that must have something in them, right? If you want more of a chocolate punch, add mini chocolate chips. I preferred to keep this more on the peanut butter side so I stuck with just the peanut butter cups. While I used smooth peanut butter in the dough, I also added chopped peanuts. Yes, I know I could've skipped that step and just used chunky peanut butter but I had both smooth peanut butter and some leftover peanuts from another recipe so I used what I had. It worked out fine.

This is a good peanut butter cookie recipe; the dough handled well and the cookies baked up thick. As always, don't overbake it or you'll easily get more of a crisp texture and dry mouthfeel. It's got good peanut butter flavor. If you don't want the texture of the peanuts, just use creamy peanut butter and omit adding the chopped peanuts. Oddly, while I don't normally like nuts in my cookies, that aversion doesn't apply to peanuts in peanut butter cookies. Likely because they don't steam and soften like other nuts (cashews, pecans and almonds, I'm looking at you; macadamia nuts, you're off the hook).

Bakery Review: Edgar's Bakery

Bakery Review: Edgar's Bakery - ordered Orange Dreamsicle Cake, August 1, 2024 from Goldbelly

I rarely see orange cakes available for online ordering and nationwide shipping. Heck, I rarely (which could also mean “never”) see them in brick and mortar bakeries, both locally and when I travel. Red velvet, chocolate, vanilla, lemon, marble, coconut, sure. Orange? MIA. So I was glad to see this offering of Orange Dreamsicle Cake on Goldbelly from Edgar’s Bakery. 

 

I’d never heard of Edgar’s Bakery before but they seem to be locally (or more?) famous in Alabama. Always happy to support a small business, especially one with an orange cake that also had coconut.

As with just about everything I’ve ordered through Goldbelly, this came well packaged and, despite our still hot summer temps when it arrived, it was perfectly preserved and still frozen. The dry ice it was packed with was gone but the cake was frozen almost solid.

So I did have to let it defrost on my kitchen counter for several hours before I could even slice through it. And even then the middle was still a bit cold and hard so I had to wait another few hours.

The wait was worth it as this cake was delicious. Light and fluffy once fully thawed and perfect orange flavor, amped by the orange zest. I assume they also used orange juice and more zest for the cake rather than the more artificial tang from orange extract. The only thing I didn’t love was the buttercream frosting but that’s more me not liking frosting that much, especially the slightly greasy mouthfeel of buttercream, than anything to do with frosting itself, had I a more objective palate.

The cake was on sale when I bought it and some people might consider it a bit pricey but for what you get plus the cost of shipping and being able to support a small business, I don’t mind. That’s where I prioritize my budget. It was a lot of cake though so I ended up slicing it into multiple pieces, wrapping each piece and placing them in the freezer. I ate it a little at a time and it took about a month to finish but the calories were worth every bite.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies from Cooktop Cove

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies - made dough July 18. 2024 from Cooktop Cove

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
3. Add egg and mix to combine. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Add rolled oats and mix to evenly disburse. Do not overmix. 
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough balls on prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Remove from oven, let rest on baking sheet for several minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I'm not sure how I feel about these cookies. On the one hand, they're exactly what they're supposed to be: oatmeal cookies with lemon flavor. There's nothing wrong with them. They're chewy and moist like any good oatmeal cookie, hearty with the oats.

On the other hand, they don't really stand out. I don't know what I expected. Maybe I had in mind those crisp oatmeal cookies at the grocery store with the glaze? Or something like Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal (that I love)? 

Or simply that I'm used to a little spice like cinnamon in an oatmeal cookie and my taste buds were confused by just the lemon. That could be it. The muscle memory in my taste buds expected something cinnamon-y and got lemon. These are LEMON oatmeal cookies after all and cinnamon and lemon do not go together in my book.

So, bottom line, these are good if you like lemon and oatmeal together. They deliver that. If you're more of a traditional oatmeal cookie person, adjust your expectations or try this copycat recipe for Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal cookie.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Stephanie's Sweet Treats

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough August 4, 2024 from Stephanie's Sweet Treats

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Melt and brown the butter (see original blog post for more detailed directions). Pour browned butter (make sure you get all the browned bits) into the mixing bowl you plan to use, let cool to room temperature then cover and chill until solid.
2. Before making the cookie dough, remove from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.
3. In a separate medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt and cornstarch.
4. In the mixing bowl with the now-solidified brown butter, beat together browned butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
5. Add vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine after each addition.
6. Add flour mixture in 2 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined.
7. Add chocolate chips and mix on low speed until evenly disbursed. Do not overmix.
8. Portion dough into golf ball size dough balls, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes or several hours or overnight.
9. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

In my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels, the volunteers select a service member who'd signed up for baking care packages. Oftentimes you only get the bare bones info on them like military mailing address to send the package to and what branch of the military they're in. But I came across one service member who requested "brown butter chocolate chunk cookies". Ah, an appeal to my baking heart.

As it happened, I had a couple of recipes for exactly that on my pinterest board, just lurking to be tested. Unlike some recipes calling for the use of browned butter in chocolate chip cookies where you melt and brown the butter, let it cool then start making the dough with the melted browned butter, this one calls for chilling the browned butter back to solid form before using. This prevents having flat, greasy cookies which is prone to happen with using directly melted butter.

The original directions call for pouring the melted browned butter into a large cup and chilling. Then transferring the chilled browned butter to the mixing bowl when you're ready to make the dough. I skipped the cup step and poured the melted browned butter into the mixing bowl I planned to use. The best part of browned butter are the browned bits from the milk solids. It's hard to scrape every last browned bit if you keep transferring containers. So I found it easier and more efficient to pour the melted browned butter directly into my mixing bowl, cover, and chill that then plug it right into my stand mixer to start making the dough. 

As predicted, these cookies didn't come out flat or greasy. They baked to a fairly uniform thickness, had the crisp edges and the chewy middles. Best of all, they had the browned butter flavor. Hopefully the military service member I sent these to got what she expected and requested.

Crumbl Cookies review #81 - Banana Bread

Crumbl Cookies review #81: Banana Bread - visited September 3, 2024 

One of this week's non-cookie offerings at Crumbl is Banana Bread. The other one was "The Afterlife Cake" but it's basically a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting so I passed. I do still need to fit into my clothes after all. Even though this week's menu also has my favorite churro cookie. 

I was a bit skeptical at first about Crumbl doing a banana bread and my liking it. After all, I have a 3-decade+ recipe for banana bread that has not only stood the test of time but has been one of the most requested items I'm always asked to make from both (extended) family and friends. As in, to the point, I'm sick of making it and can make it half asleep with my eyes closed.

My banana bread is very purist in that it's only got bananas. No nuts, no raisins (shudder), no coconut, no pineapple bits, no chocolate chips, no crumb topping. Just banana bread. Crumbl's thankfully also doesn't have add ins inside the bread itself but it does have a brown sugar crumble on top.

Unlike most of the other specialty items, the banana bread has an upcharge of only $0.49 cents above the large single cookie price. Presumably it's also easier to make since there aren't layers and frostings to fuss with, just the mini loaf of bread which fit diagonally in the single cookie pink box and the crumble topping.

This is slightly more dense in texture than my banana bread but to cut to the chase: I loved this banana bread. Not too overwhelmingly banana-y but great texture and flavor. I recommended this to a fellow food bank volunteer when we did a shift yesterday. I told my niece this might be as good or better (gulp) than my banana bread. Yikes. A 30-year+ recipe toppled in one fell blow, lol. 

So yes, this was good. Well worth that upcharge. The streusel topping added a nice sweetness although not much crunch but that was okay too. Although Crumbl's description describes it as a cinnamon streusel, I didn't taste a lot of cinnamon so if you're a cinnamon lover, this might fall short. But again, I thought it was fine as the flavors were nicely balanced. Anyway, with banana bread, I think banana should be the star flavor and not overpowered by any spice.

Coconut Pound Cake from Flours and Frostings

Coconut Pound Cake - made August 7, 2024 from Flours and Frostings

1 1/14 cups (155 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (I used sweetened, flaked)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch round baking pan with a round parchment circle and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 1 minute, until no lumps remain. Add sugar and beat another 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla; beat on low speed after each addition. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl to keep mixture even textured. 
5. Add dry ingredients (3 additions) and milk (2 additions) in alternating additions, starting and ending with the flour.
6. Add coconut and mix until disbursed. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
7. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes before running a spatula around the sides and overturning the cake onto a plate. Invert right side up and let cool completely.

Here's a simple summer picnic cake if you need an easy dessert to make and don't need to feed a large crowd. It can all be mixed up in one bowl, baked in an 8 x 8-inch baking pan and cut up and serve. If you like/love coconut, this is a great option if you want something quick and easy to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Although it has pound cake in the title, this was a bit more fluffy than the regular dense texture of a typical pound cake. It wasn't too light and cakey though like a box mix cake or a chiffon. Just the right note in between. Flavor wise, it's hard to go wrong with a vanilla butter coconut cake. This one is easy to overindulge with so if you're watching your intake, have a piece and give the rest away. Fortunately I had family in town visiting who were on their way to see other family members so I was able to do just that.