David J. Pryke

I made these cookies as travel food for a long car trip we made recently.  They are high in protein, and relatively low in simple carbs, at least compared to many other cookies and car snacks.  They were tasty and provided great energy in the car without causing that dreaded sleepiness that comes from snacking on too many simple carbohydrates.

These cookies had a wonderful peanut butter flavor as well as a great crunch, and they were super easy to make! I didn’t use the optional nuts or chocolate chips; I plan to try using crunchy peanut butter at some point to add some crunch in a quick & easy way.

I found this Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe at the Food & Wine Magazine site:

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

TOTAL TIME: 25 MIN
SERVINGS: Makes 2 dozen cookies (or so…)

Ingredients

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons finely chopped peanuts (optional)

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter with the sugar, baking soda and egg.
3. (optional) Stir in the peanuts and/or chocolate chips.
4. Roll tablespoons of the dough into 24 balls. Set the balls on 2 baking sheets, and using a fork, make a crosshatch pattern on each cookie.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, shifting the baking sheets from front to back and bottom to top, until the cookies are lightly browned and set.
6. Let cool on a wire rack.

Original recipe is in normal text, with my adjustments and notes in italics between the curly braces after each line.

2 sticks butter, room temp
1 3/4 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond flavoring
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sliced almonds
6 cups flour

• Cream butter and gradually add sugar.  Mix well.
• Add one egg at a time; cream well until fluffy.
• Add vanilla and almond flavorings.
• Add sliced almonds.  {I once forgot to add them at this point, and added them after the flour, just before kneading…it worked pretty well that way, too!}
• Add baking powder and flour gradually and mix well.
• Turn dough out onto floured surface.  Knead briefly {I found that I liked them better if I kneaded the dough a bit more than “briefly” – something like ten minutes.} like you would with bread dough, adding flour a little bit at a time until you can form loaves (use as little flour as you can).
• Shape dough into two loaves (or four if you want smaller biscotti).
• Put loaves on foil-lined cookie sheets.  Flatten loaves a little bit with your hands.  {Pat the loaves down wide and flat, as the dough will mostly retain the shape you give it here. I also don’t use foil, I just put them directly onto my stainless air-bake cookie sheets.}
• {I also use a little milk or water (VERY LITTLE) to moisten the top of the loaves and sprinkles some sliced almonds on top for effect.  I like it, anyway.}
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. {Don’t want to overbake at this point, as you’ll toast them more below.}
• Cut into slices. {Looks nicest if you cut on an angle.}
• Lay slices flat on cookie sheets and put back in oven at 400 degrees to toast for 5 minutes on each side. {I found that they were more “biscotti-like” if you toasted them for longer, more like 12-15 minutes per side, especially since the loaves were sometimes still pretty moist in the center, but brown enough on the outside that you wouldn’t have wanted to bake them any longer as a whole loaf. Keep an eye on them if you extend the time – you definitely don’t want them to burn!}
• Let cool, and enjoy!