Born To Bake

Born to Bake.

It all began inconspicuously enough. At six, positioned at my Mother’s elbow, we made peanut butter cookies together. She had a copy of the Joy of Cooking, and the book practically fell open to the page. Smeared with dough from countless previous bakings, the page smelled wonderfully like peanut butter…a smell and taste we couldn’t get enough of.

As one of five children (and the eldest at that), the cookies never lasted long. We had notorious sweet teeth among us, and a batch of cookies would scarcely last a day before they had all disappeared.

I loved peanut butter cookies, but I loved the act of baking them even more. My Mom recounts the story of waking one morning to the smell of peanut butter cookies at 6:30 in the morning. She came down stairs, wondering what the heck was going on, and found me (kitchen in shambles) pulling trays out of the oven with mitts that stretched past my elbows.

They were that darn good.

So it's been a bug that's stuck. Baking in general refined itself to more cakes, than cookies, as I got older. Always seeking new recipes. Always trying new flavour combinations. I'm amateur for sure - my baking is decent but my frosting techniques are atrocious - but I'm bumbling through, failing as often as I succeed, but learning all the same.

My personal favorite kind of baking is definitely the cupcake. There's something about that cute little frosted sweetie that just gets me every time. They are definitely my most common culinary feat and love playing with old recipes, or creating brand new ones.

I'm also a blog junkie. Not writing blogs, but searching them for new recipes, tips, and ideas. Some of my own stuff has turned out OK, and I love to write, so I thought to myself what the heck? I’ve always been extremely jealous of the online baking community, and I’ve had to reason with myself – I’ll never get a chance to participate in cupcake hero, or a round-up, if I never get into it myself! I’m getting all this inspiration from others, why not contribute the little bit I can?

Still, I’m really amateur and not much to look at. I still haven’t figured out how to get the photos off my camera to start posting them with my recipes. So, on the right are links to baking blogs that are really good and the bakers have obviously been doing this a lot longer than I have. You'll be amazed by their freakin' glorious recipes. Most of my creations are merely variations on their themes. But, here's to hoping that as time goes on and I grow a little culinary backbone, more of these recipes can be honestly cited as my own.

But not today! Today's recipe goes to that lovely cookie that started it all.

Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies
From the Joy of Cooking

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 c. peanut butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together. Add peanut butter and beat until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add slowly to the peanut butter mixture. It's going to get really heavy, but trust me that's OK.
Chill the dough for one hour (I never had the patience as a six year old to wait for this step, but supposedly it's a good one...actually, I also used to use butter right out of the fridge and microwave it to melting point. Gimme a break, I was six!) Once chilled, roll into balls, line non-stick baking tray and press each one with a fork.

Cook 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees.
Voila!

Rich, delicious peanut butter cookies.
I think I'll make some right now...