The other night I was looking for something sweet to eat, but I didn’t have much in the pantry.  Most cookies needed brown sugar and I was out.  I also was lacking in chocolate and other sweet ingredients.  Then I found some peanut butter, but peanut butter cookies require brown sugar.  So I looked into making some homemade brown sugar.  Yes, it is easier to make than you would think. The key, 1/2 tbs molasses for every cup of sugar.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies – (Adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

• Dry Ingredients
  
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Wet Ingredients
  
• 1/4 cup canola or corn oil
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 12 tbs butter (1.5 sticks of butter)
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tbs molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.

In a separate bowl add the oil, peanut butter, powdered sugar, sugar and molasses.  Beat on medium until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Light and Fluffy

Once light and fluffy add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated.

Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla to the mixture

Now fold in the sifted dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients in thirds.  This will make sure that the ingredients get fully incorporated.  Using a scoop or a tablespoon, portion the dough and place the dough on a cookie sheet.  It is recommended to use parchment paper or a silpat.

Portion the Cookies

Next I lightly dust the cookies with sugar.  Then using a fork, make a cross-hatch pattern in the cookies.

Making a cross-hatch pattern

Depending on the size of the cookies that you are going to make the baking time will vary.

A closeup of the cookie pattern

For a tablespoon sized portion it takes about 9-12 minutes for the cookies to cook.  I used a 1.5-2tbs ice cream scoop and the cookies took about 16 minutes to cook.

Cooling on the rack