Because this is Rhode Island and I live in the North and they live in the South, any trip means an inevitable sleep over. 40 minutes is a long drive! I don't want to drive that long home! If you're not from Rhode Island, you might not understand this phenomenon - but it's true.
OK - but I can't get there till 10, Jules. So I suggested cookies. Since I haven't had them in a while, Peanut Butter Cookies. Done. You supply the eggs, flour, sugar and I'll bring the rest.
So - this recipe I found is super easy and I memorized it. Just remember 3/4 cup. Watch:
YOU WILL NEED:
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 3/4 cup flour
(these not so much...but...)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
That's super easy. This is the best kind of recipe if you're having a hankering for peanut butter but don't want an in your face peanut butter experience. Oven : 350.
First you cream the butter, sugar, and peanut butter until fluffy. I didn't have a good processor but you don't really need one - just a spatula and a good arm. I used the homemade brown sugar because it's what I had.
Jules likes to help. (I have a funny story about her whipping cream. I'll tell it later!) OK - measure out the flour. So I'm watching her and she's doing it wrong. I'm a stickler for this so listen up! Don't dig the measuring cup into the flour OR shake or pat it down. You'll end up with too much flour in your mix and it will make it dry and, eventually, hard. Play with your flour. Use your hands. Trust me - it's more fun that way. They you can dust your shirt with flour and look like you're making a mess. Scoop the flour into the cup until it overflows then use your finger or a knife to level it off.
Put the flour in another bowl. Julia accidently put a half cup of flour into the butter/sugar mixture, but no worries! It happens!
After you cream the butter and sugar ad one egg at a time and mix in throughly.
Before you add the flour to the mix - ad the baking soda and salt. So - my friends don't have measuring spoons, which is hard because not all regular teaspoons will measure an actual "tsp" of whatever your measuring. Ned, Jules boyfriend, also a roommate of the house, hands me an actual teaspoon and I think, "Better too little than too much." So, if you want your cookie bars to come out the same, take a real teaspoon and level off with a knife, then add an extra pinch for good luck. As far as 1/4 tsp of salt? It was a very large pinch.
Salt is a pretty awesome thing - I suggest reading this book on it.
I didn't have a sifter either. Oh, well. This is lazy ass. This is get-er-done baking. My friends want delicious things between Donkey Kong and Cooking Mama. Throw the flour in there a little bit at a time and mix it up. If someone wants to help (like Julia again) let them. You really can't majority fuck up incorporating ingredients by hand.
So. Now we have delicious cookie dough. Who wants to scoop out spoonfuls and make cookies? Uh, nobody. They had a glass baking dish that was clean lying around the kitchen. Can I use this? "Yes you can!" Jules colored in the glass dish with butter and I threw the dough, smoothed it out, and stuck it in the oven.
In my opinion, making cookie bars is great. You get the benefit of making and eating the cookie dough and you don't have to sit there and worry about making all these little cookies and then making sure you don't burn them. Stick them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes before checking if the center is cooked. stick a knife in the center and if it comes out clean you're good. A little underdone is preferable too.
After a whiskey, a smoke, Ned's homemade kimchi, and some Donkey Kong - they were done. You have to eat them warm. They were delicious! Jay liked that they weren't too peanut-buttery. Ned thought it was cool that I snuck the molasses in there because apparently there are benefits to molasses? I'll have to look that up.
We each had two bars and ended the night with a few rounds of Cooking Mama. There's 12 left. Super easy for the lazy person.
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