Honey and Peanut Butter Cookies

I’ve just discovered a way to beat the Monday morning blahs – bake cookies! Cookies make everybody happy. Does anyone remember the Judy Collins song from the 70’s “I Always Cook with Honey”? Well that’s a good thing to do around here since we keep bees, but Judy was right -honey provides such a delicious mellow taste that is lighter than just sugar.

It’s worth it to seek out a local honey that you love – farmer’s markets are a reliable source. If my husband was stranded on a desert island he would need honey and peanut butter to survive. And milk – hopefully there would be an island cow, but he’d have to learn how they work. With that in mind what could possibly be better on this Monday morning than Honey and Peanut Butter Cookies with a big glass of milk.

These cookies will remind you of honey roasted peanuts – except in cookie form! It’s like a little trip downtown to The Arcade and the Peanut Shop– best peanuts in Nashville! Honey and Peanut Butter Cookies are nice big fat cookies, not too sweet because of the honey, but delicious with lots of peanut butter and a sprinkle of sugar on top. The recipe makes about two dozen which sounds like a lot, but fair warning – those babies disappear pretty quickly. The batter mixes up in a flash with an electric mixer and about 15 minutes in the fridge makes the dough easier to roll into balls. They bake to a golden brown in just ten minutes – absolute perfection. Since it’s summer time, and the cookies are nice and big they also make for marvelous ice cream sandwiches – we like chocolate but feel free to experiment. Any way you want to eat them will a delight. Please make a batch – they aren’t just for Mondays — in fact I’m having one now! Enjoy.

Last Wednesday I got to Zoom cook with Meryll Rose on Channel 5’s Talk of the Town. Meryll coached me from her computer, my husband filmed my hands, and my computer zoomed the rest.  Admittedly it’s more fun to be in the studio enjoying the comradery and sharing the finished product, but this was a great experience. It was nice to know we could pull it off! If you missed Meryll and me live here we are (click to watch)!

Honey and Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

½ stick butter

½ cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

½ cup honey

½ cup sugar (plus ¼ cup for tops of cookies)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

¾ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1¾ cups flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, honey, and sugar.

Mix in egg and vanilla.

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and combine.

Mix in flour.

Allow dough to chill for 15 minutes.

Roll dough in your hands into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball.

Dip a drinking glass sprayed with cooking spray into remaining ¼ cup sugar and use it to press the cookies into flat rounds.

Bake 10 minutes and allow to cool.