My roomie was also bitten by the cookbook bug and brought home a little gem called Once upon a Tart...Soups, Salads, Muffins, and More. I'm glad to see it's not just me who gets these urges every now and then. I was very pleased to find a lot of sweets for me to make including tarts, scones, cookies, and quick bread. I settled on this peanut butter cookie recipe for the first try since it looked good and I had all the ingredients on hand.

Rosie's Peanut Butter Cookies
From Once Upon a Tart...Soups, Salads, Muffins, and More by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups commercial peanut butter (we use smooth, but if you like crunch, use crunchy)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Cream the butter and sugars togehter in a big bowl until they are fluffy and light lemon-yellow in color, about 5 minutes.
• Add the peanut butter and continue beating at high speed until it is incorporated.
• With the mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add vanilla.
• In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
• Gradually add these dry ingredients to the wet, with a wooden spoon (or the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed) until no flour is visible.
• To make big cookies, use a 1/3 measing cup or your hand to scoop out the dough. Roll the dough for each cookie between your hands into a ball. Have some flour handy to dust your hands in case the dough is too sticky to work with.
• Place the balls on your baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between them and then flatten with the heel of your hand until they are about 4 inches in diameter.
• To make smaller cookies, use a spoon to scoop up the dough and drop it onto the baking sheet, no flattening necessary.
• Bake cookies for 18 - 20 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the edges.
• Cool cookies on a wire rack.

About this recipe: number one, I used unbleached all-purpose flour and all was well. I really don't know if the end result is signigicantly different. A kitchen baking experiment may be in the offing soon to answer this question...

Anyhow, the peanut butter cookie batter came together quickly. I used my stand mixer for all the steps. In the book it says to use the wire wisk attachment for the creaming and adding eggs and then to switch to the paddle. I just used the paddle the whole time. I don't know about this switching out of paddles--it's seems like a whole lot of nothing to me, and a waste of attachments.

I used crunchy peanut butter beacuse that's what I had and what I like. I recommend it, too, to add some texture to these cookies. I also used dark brown sugar instead of light.

I used a combination of their methods to mete out my cookies: using a spoon I scooped up my dough and then rolled it between my hands to make a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Then I used a fork to press them out a little and to form the classic cross hatched pattern on top. I think this worked spectacularly.

My cookies spread quite a bit while cooking. I did add a tablespoon or two more flour to help prevent the cookie-splay. I think it helped a little.

The result: a crisp, but light and airy, peanut butter cookie that melts in your mouth. Perfect for dunking in a glass of cold milk or in a cup of hot tea or coffee. On their own, I find them to be a little bit plain in terms of flavor (thank goodness I used dark brown sugar) and not peanut buttery enough for my taste. I think it definitely needs something, maybe a smidgen of cinnamon. I also prefer a moist, chewy peanut butter cookie to this cookie's texture. It just doesn't have much substance or weight and melts away before I'm done enjoying it. Well, that just means I'm on the lookout for a better recipe.