Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas cookie

Hi friends and family,
Here's a great cookie recipe for ya. I have been craving peanut butter for some reason, and so I've made a batch a day for about 4 days now. Super easy. Wheat-free. I came up with the recipe by trial and error and tweeking a few recipes I saw on-line. I'm calling them...

Sesame Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. natural peanut butter (chunky or creamy... doesn't matter)
1/2 c. sucanat (or turbinado or rapadura or brown sugar)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/4 tsp. celtic sea salt (optional)
Set aside: 1/4 c. sesame seeds in a small bowl (optional)

Mix up all the ingredients with a fork... except the sesame seeds. Form into balls. Roll each ball in the sesame seeds to cover with seeds (optional) or just put the plain cookie dough balls on an un-greased baking sheet/ baking stone. Use a fork to gently push down on each ball to slightly flatten it, and then do it again the other way so fork-lines are perpendicular... I love that word. Ha! Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet so they set-up. Then scrape the spatula under each cookie to lift them to a plate. Melt your favorite dark chocolate in a double-boiler and top each cookie with a big dab of melted chocolate. Allow to cool. Fantastico!

Quick double-boiler suggestion:
The best way I found to melt chocolate is to use my big glass measuring bowl and fill it half-way with water (which means about 4 cups water). Microwave the water until boiling (3 min. approx.). I then break up some dark chocolate squares (roughly 1 cup) and put them into my smaller glass measuring cup with handle. It has a 2 cup capacity. I lower the smaller cup into the larger one's hot water, and hang the smaller's handle over the edge of the larger's rim. It melts very smoothly and just can't burn or overcook. That's what I like about it!

Merry Christmas!

Faith, hope, and love.... but the greatest of these is love!
Amy