They weren’t my favorite cookie as a kid (Mystic Mints held that honor – remember those??), but they’d do in a pinch.
This cookie borrows the concept (though not the shape) and it’s another modified recipe from the Early Spring edition of King Arthur Flour’s The Baking Sheet. These tiny cookies are soft but with a nice crunch from the chopped peanuts, and contain a creamy slightly tangy center. They are pop-in-your-mouth addictive.
Meanwhile…I’m waiting for the sun to show in northern California so I can go for a run and explore the surroundings that were pitch black last night when I got in. I’ve got another hour or so to wait… My body is on Central time. I’m taking a few days off from blogging while I enjoy time with friends I haven’t seen in ages and to celebrate a wedding. Happy weekends to all!
Peanut Butter Cookies with Molasses-Peanut Butter Cream
Makes 26 sandwich cookies
Cookies:
1/4 cup vegan “butter”
1/2 cup crunchy or smooth natural peanut butter
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. egg replacer + 3 tbsp. water (whisk together until frothy, then let sit for a minute)
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp. stevia powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
Peanut Butter-Molasses Cream:
1 tbsp. vegan “butter”
1/2 cup crunchy or smooth natural peanut butter
pinch salt
1 tbsp. almond or soy milk
1 tbsp. molasses
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
Make the cookies:
In a large bowl, cream together the “butter” and peanut butter. Add the maple sugar, vanilla, applesauce and egg replacer mixture, and stir until well-combined.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, stevia powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and oats. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
Drop by the teaspoon onto the prepared baking pans and gently press the cookies down to flatten them a bit. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown. Cool for a few minutes on the pans, then carefully transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Make the cream:
In the bowl of a food processer, combine all of the filling ingredients and mix until very smooth.
When cookies are cool, dollop peanut butter-molasses cream on the bottom of one cookie and press another cookie on top. Continue with the remainder of the cookies. Store in an air-tight container or freeze, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
(I did my usual change-ups here: used all whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP flour; reduced the amount of sugar and used stevia; halved the amount of fat and added unsweetened applesauce – but I really made big changes to the filling. It called for another 1/4 cup of butter and a whole cup of confectioner’s sugar. I used only a tablespoon of “butter” and ditched the addition of confectioner’s sugar completely – which to my taste buds would have made a cookie that was far too sweet. The applesauce adds a little sweetness as does the molasses. This cream thickens as it sits – so don’t worry if it seems to thin when applying to the cookies. By the way, plain ol’ natural peanut butter would be perfectly delicious in between the cookies.)
Every generation has its version of “the good old days.” For some, the memories are sepia-toned or come in shades of black, white and gray. For me they’re tinged with the yellow fade peculiar to photos from the late 60s to mid-70s. The era of unenviable hairstyles, long lines at the gas station, The Brady Bunch and the game of Life…
