Pumped Up Peanut Butter Cookies

I don't know about you, but I like to order spices from Penzeys Spices on occasion, so their catalog comes to me in the mail and usually contains at least a few recipes. A while back, a recipe for Izzy's Peanut Butter Cookies caught my attention. First off, they looked like they had a bit of "chew" to them, rather than being a crispy cookie, or a soft cookie. That made me read the recipe, and I noticed that it contained cocoa powder. That got my gears turning, so I had to make a batch, switching things up a bit as I went along.

Although the cookies turned out great in the end, I did mangle the first tray. Izzy's recipe calls for rolling the dough into balls, then rolling the balls in sugar and pressing with a fork for that familiar criss-cross peanut butter cookie pattern. Because I was making these as a last minute addition to the Easter dessert table, knowing the dough was too soft to roll out and cut into shapes, I decided to press the dough into an egg-shaped cutter to form the cookies and bake them that way. Seemed like a good idea to me - until I took a peak and saw I pretty much had a tray of peanut butter cookie bars - they had all grown together! No problem - the rest were rolled per the original recipe.

!!  Don't do this !!

INGREDIENTS :

1/2 c butter, soft

1/2 c Crisco shortening

1 c sugar (plus more for rolling)

1 c light brown sugar

2 t vanilla

1 c peanut butter (I use Jif)

3 eggs

1 T cocoa powder

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking soda

2 c flour

1/4 t cayenne pepper

2 t instant espresso powder

1. Cream together the butter, Crisco, and sugars
2. Add the vanilla and peanut butter
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined
4. Use a fork to whisk together the coco powder, salt, baking soda, flour, cayenne, and espresso powder - add to wet mixture, a little at a time
5. The dough will be very soft, so you might find it easier to chill for 20" or so to firm up a bit
6. Roll into balls, then roll in sugar and place on parchment lined baking sheet
7. Press gently with a fork or potato masher to create a grid pattern if desired
8. Bake at 350 8-12"

Although you do get a slight kick at the end from the cayenne, you can't really discern the cocoa and espresso powder; they just serve to elevate the flavor without being "in your face." This is a keeper!