Makes Thirty 1¾ inch cookies
Oven Temperature: 375°F/190°C
Baking Time: 10 to 12 minutes for each of two batches
Baking Equipment: Two 15 by 12 inch cookie sheets, no preparation needed, or lined with parchment
Optional: a 1¼ inch diameter cookie scoop
A disposable pastry bag with a very small semicircle cut from the tip
For the peanut lover, this really hits the spot.
Makes 360 grams dough
| unsalted butter | 57 grams | 4 tablespoons (½ stick) |
| bleached all-purpose flour | 71 grams | ½ cup (lightly spooned into the cup and leveled off) plus 1½ tablespoons |
| baking soda | 2.7 grams | ½ teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | . | ¹⁄₁₆ teaspoon |
| smooth peanut butter, preferably Jif | 133 grams | ½ cup |
| ½ large egg | 25 grams | 1½ tablespoons (22.5 ml) |
| pure vanilla extract | . | ¼ teaspoon (1.2 ml) |
| light brown sugar, preferably light Muscovado | 54 grams | ¼ cup |
| granulated sugar | 25 grams | 2 tablespoons |
| jelly or jam of your choice | 78 grams | ¼ cup |
Mise en Place
▪ Thirty minutes to 1 hour ahead, cut the butter into 4 pieces.
▪ In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
▪ Into another small bowl, weigh or measure the peanut butter.
▪ Into a 1 cup measure with a spout, weigh or measure the egg. Add the vanilla.
Make the Dough
1. In a food processor, process the brown and granulated sugars for several minutes, until very fine.
2. With the motor running, add the butter, 1 piece at a time. Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed.
3. Add the peanut butter and process until smooth and creamy.
4. Add the egg mixture and process until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Add the flour mixture and pulse in just until incorporated.
6. Scrape the dough into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to overnight, to keep the dough from cracking when shaping.
Preheat the Oven
▪ Thirty minutes or longer before baking, set an oven rack at the middle level. Set the oven at 375ºF/190ºC.
Shape the Cookies
7. Measure the dough into the cookie scoop and level it off with a small metal spatula, or use 2 level teaspoons (12 grams each).
8. Roll each piece of dough between the palms of your hands into a 1 inch ball.
9. Set the dough balls 1½ inches apart on a cookie sheet.
10. Make an indentation in the middle of each, using your floured index finger. (Alternatively, use the rounded ½ inch diameter handle of a wooden spoon.)
11. Using a pastry bag or small spoon, fill each indentation with a rounded ¼ teaspoon of the jelly. (It will sink down on baking.)
Bake the Cookies
12. Bake for 5 minutes. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheet halfway around. Continue baking for 5 to 7 minutes, or until lightly brown.
13. While the first batch is baking, shape the dough for the second batch.
Cool the Cookies
14. Set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and let the cookies cool for a few minutes to be firm enough to transfer to a wire rack for cooling. Use a thin pancake turner to transfer the cookies to another wire rack.
15. Bake and cool the second batch.
Store filled, Airtight: room temperature, 1 month.
Unfilled, Airtight: room temperature, 3 months.
Baking Pearl
The smoothest possible peanut butter gives these cookies the best texture.