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 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.
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!
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups smooth or crunchy peanut butter
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
- 2¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped salted nuts
- granulated sugar, for decorating
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat together your sugars and cubed butter. Add in the eggs, one at a time, not adding the next until the first is fully incorporated, then add in the peanut butter and vanilla, mixing until well combined. In another bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture, mixing until just moistened. Fold in the chopped nuts. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour - this is key, as the dough will be too soft to bake until after it has chilled.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and place 2-tablespoon sized scoops of dough about 2 inch apart on the sheets (I highly recommend using a cookie scoop so you handle the dough as little as possible). Lots of people like to roll their peanut butter cookies in sugar, but I find this to be annoying and messy, so I just like to sprinkle it on top, but you can roll if that's what you like to do. After you've sprinkled all of your cookies with sugar (or hey, you can use sea salt, too), make a criss-cross mark with a fork, pressing down ever so gently, then bake for 10-12 minutes, until just set but not browned. Allow to cool before moving to another surface.
So sad your friend left, but at least your family is coming to chill! I’m visiting NY next month with my Grandparents and am totally stealing your idea of chilling in Prospect Park! OH! And I’m totally making these cookies. Yum!
That roof top is seriously amazing! Wow, I really want to come and see NYC now more than ever!!
These cookies are awesome. I mean I am down with anything peanut butter!
Wow! These cookies look absolutely fantastic!! I’m sure everybody loved them!!
Perfection.
Hope you had a good time with your parents! These look like quite the pb cookies. A little different and totally delicious!
I hate to be ‘that guy’ but man, is that a sweet roof.
Looks like you had a boss week, and baked some awesome cookies. Win!
What a fun-filled weekend! And man oh man, that roof! So jealous.
And these cookies – swoon! I just reloaded on my PB too!
Hi Sydney, just wondering what brand of PB you used. PB brands vary so much, would like to insure I get the same flavor/ texture as yours. Thanks!
I always loved Pecan Sandies growing up, and I am currently going through a massive peanut butter phase…so I have a feeling I should make these ASAP.
Ahhh I love how your photos & stories give such a nice glimpse into NYC life
And those cookies look sooo chewy and tasty!
[…] the peanut butter sandies I showed you two weeks ago, I made these M&M cookies for Kramer’s birthday last month, […]
Yum! Love the extra sugar!