Makes about 14 cookies
I OFTEN BELIEVE I’M A MISPLACED MINNESOTAN. EVERY TIME I AM ABLE TO VISIT, I end up looking at real estate while waiting to board my flight home. It’s simply unlike any other place in the Midwest. For starters, “Minnesota Nice” is a very real phenomenon. And the eclectic food history of the state—rich with Scandinavian influences, Native American roots, and religious traditions (long live the Lutheran church basement potluck!)—is one I can dig through for hours.
One of my must-stops for sweet treats in Minneapolis is Rose Street Patisserie. It’s at once cozy, familiar, edgy, and elegant, with an irresistible mix of gorgeous, high-end pastries and cookies and breads that immediately remind you of homey favorites that just look much, much more beautiful. One trip had me buying a pastry and coffee for eating immediately, and a peanut butter cookie the size of my outstretched hand for the airport, assuming a pending blizzard would extend my wait time. As it happened, I ate that enormous, soft, heavenly peanut butter cookie in a pristine hotel bed upon learning my flight was canceled altogether. But when I finally landed at home the next day, I headed straight to the kitchen to try and re-create that cookie.
2 cups/500 g creamy peanut butter, such as Skippy brand*
1¼ cups/280 g firmly packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons/57 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs, cold
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons/16 g cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup/100 g granulated sugar for coating
Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 350°F/180°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the peanut butter, brown sugar, melted butter, and salt on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla, just until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the cornstarch and baking soda. Mix until the dough comes together and begins to come off the sides of the bowl.
Using a standard ice-cream scoop, portion out the dough into ¼-cup balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar to coat completely. Place them, evenly spaced about 2 inches/5 cm apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Use an old-school grid-style potato masher or large serving fork to flatten the cookies into ½-inch/1.25 cm thick disks. Sprinkle the tops with a little extra granulated sugar.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. The cookies will seem underdone, and the edges just barely set. Set the pans on wire racks and let the cookies cool completely on the pans—they will continue to bake and set as they cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
TIP > If you want to make the cookies smaller, use a 2-tablespoon scoop and reduce the bake time to 8 minutes.
*As much as I love the huge peanut flavor of natural-style peanut butter (such as in the Peanut Better Blossoms, here) for an old-school, even-textured, soft and chewy peanut butter cookie, for this cookie, I reach for commercially produced, creamy peanut butter.