Peanut Butter Sandies

I’m really excited for this weekend! Even though one of my closest friends (and coincidentally, my sister-in-law) moved back to Phoenix this week, bringing unprecedented dispair amongst the Kramer household, life goes on and there are still things to look forward to. For example, my parents will be in town for a brief 24-hour period, so of course, I’ve got lots and lots of activities packed into a short amount of time. I’ll meet them for a drink at their hotel tonight, since they get in kind of late, then tomorrow the fun begins. I’ve never been to the farmer’s market in Prospect Park, so I figure we will start there, grab some cider, bread, cheese, and whatever else looks good, then find a shady tree since it is supposed to be hot as hell tomorrow, and have a little picnic. Prospect Park is perfect for this sort of thing – there are way more trees than in Central Park. After that, I want to stop by the Brooklyn Flea, then continue our way up into Williamsburg, stopping in some nice, air conditioned bars, or at least bars with gardens, on our way back. If we are all fat, tipsy, and happy by 7 PM, I’ve done my job. That is the duty of a daughter, right? To overfeed her parents and force them to walk all over Brooklyn in search of more delicious thing? I’m sure that has to be right because if not, I’ve been living my life as a terrible daughter.

I like to party.This past weekend, though, our friends Matt and Amanda were kind enough to host a barbecue for Memorial Day. I picked up some out of this world hot dogs and chorizo from The Meat Hook and made a radish salad, while Matt made excellent cheddar and jalapeño burgers, all of which were happily consumed in a matter of minutes. We drank plenty of beers and ended up overstaying our welcome, I’m sure, as we closed out the night singing old Weezer songs at the top of our lungs on Matt and Amanda’s roof. I’m sure that their neighbors were thrilled – who doesn’t want to hear a bunch of drunk twenty-somethings singing really poorly as you try to celebrate the holiday? Hopefully they will forgive a little too much merriment on our glorious three day weekend. On Monday, we had brunch with Rachel one last time at Walter Foods, had one last cocktail at Roebling Tea Room, then said our goodbyes as Rachel left to go make the rounds with her other friends. To drown our sorrows, Kramer and I went and saw Fast & Furious 6, which was exactly what we needed to lift our spirits. If Vin Disel and The Rock can’t make you feel better, I don’t know what can. We walked home, ordered Thai for dinner, finished Arrested Development, and went to bed early; we definitely needed the sleep!

I made these Peanut Butter Sandies for Kramer’s birthday last month, and I am really proud of them. I love how much sugar ended up sticking to the outside. I credit this with liberally sprinkling sugar on the outside of the cookies after rolling them, instead of rolling them directly in sugar. Rolling them leads to the sugar dissolving before they hit the oven, but with the sprinkling, the sugar sits on top of other granules of sugar, leaves a nice, crunchy layer that keeps you coming back for just one more. I actually baked these a week beforehand, froze them, then thawed them out, and the sugar still stayed intact, while the cookies themselves got even chewier and tastier the second go around. Go figure. I used a whole vanilla bean in these since it was Kramer’s birthday and I wanted to make him feel special, but vanilla extract does the job just as well. Add in plenty of peanut butter and chopped nuts, and you’ve got yourself a nearly perfect peanut butter cookie.

Kramer being a cool dude.
Morgan’s great escape.

And Kramer is left alone.

Our host.

Rachel, who moved back home earlier this week.

We will miss her!

Sweet roof, right?

Alright, so, it’s time to make the cookies. Combine your butter and sugars, scrape your vanilla bean, chop your nuts, and combine with your flour mixture.

After chilling, place them on your baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

You may also tempt Kramer with the tasty cookie dough.

But be aware that this means he will be all up in your business as soon as the cookies are out of the oven.

Cookies!