Fresh Ground Peanut Butter Cookies

On February 22, 2024March 15, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

Every since I first encountered a bright red nut-grinding machine in a grocery store, I’ve been a fan of fresh ground peanut butter. You can see the shelled peanuts in the hopper (and often almonds in a neighboring machine) and watch them come out the dispenser as creamy nut butter. The result isn’t the ground peanut clump submerged under an inch of oil that you often find when opening jarred natural peanut butter, and it lacks the added butter, sugar, salt, and preservatives of aggressively marketed brands. It’s just nuts.

Peanut butter features in all sorts of baked goods, but as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, many recipes were originally written for peanut butter spreads already heavy in butter and sugar. It took me several batches of cookies to adapt the recipe I grew up with for fresh ground peanut butter. It was well worth all that sampling and experimenting: these cookies are easy enough to make for everyday snacking yet tasty enough that I can add them to a holiday cookie tray.

Learn to make Fresh Ground Peanut Butter Cookies

Snickerdoodles

On March 30, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookies2 Comments

Snickerdoodles have been one of my favorites ever since I raided Grandma Tiny’s cookie jar as a kid. I’d like to say that the recipe I use today, and shared this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, follows her original one closely, but I can’t be certain: in all the times I watched her bake these cookies, I never saw a cookbook or recipe card. She knew all of the ingredients and measurements by heart.

The only change I knowingly made to her recipe was to replace vegetable shortening with butter and coconut oil, a blend I prefer for pie crust too. I’ve also come up with a sourdough snickerdoodle variation that replaces an egg and some of the flour with sourdough starter. The cookies’ defining tanginess, normally created just by the cream of tartar, becomes even stronger, yet they remain sweet and chewy.
Learn to make Snickerdoodles

Choosing Wooden Spoons

On December 2, 2022November 19, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, ToolsLeave a comment

As the holiday baking and gifting season begins, you may want to check out my recent piece for The Spruce Eats. I tested a dozen wooden spoons for the website earlier this year, using each of them to stir multiple batches of cookie dough or quick bread batter, as well as sautés, soups, pasta, and more.

I reach for wooden spoons all of the time in my kitchen, but they probably get the most use when I’m baking. Overall, I found that sturdiness and handle comfort mattered most when mixing doughs, especially dense ones. Some spoons I tested had additional features, like an edge shape that easily scraped down a mixing bowl or a small rubber scraper on the top of the handle that could clear out a measuring cup. A few had a shape that worked best when gripped a certain way to mix dough.
Learn about choosing and using wooden spoons

Vanilla Bean Cookies

On December 1, 2022November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

To kick off the December holiday season, I shared a favorite family cookie recipe this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. Vanilla Bean Cookies are an appropriate way to start a month that emphasizes baking not only for their flavor but also because of how you create them: by making the cookies and letting them sit for several weeks. They’re the first cookies I make each holiday season, quickly followed by Chocolate Rum Balls, and they’re some of the first to be devoured when I crack open the cookie tins.

These cookies are special to me because of their history in my family and because friends continue to adopt them and include them in their own holiday traditions. My grandmother’s original recipe seemed untouchable, but I recently improved on it by switching to organic ingredients, especially a tapioca-based powdered sugar instead of one laced with cornstarch to prevent caking. After years of making this recipe, the flavor and texture were better than ever, making the extra cost well worth it.
Learn to make Vanilla Bean Cookies

Sourdough Cookies

On January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Fermenting, Giveaway, Topic2 Comments

Putting sourdough starter in cookies bumps up against some problems, but you can solve them. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
Sourdough cookies, like last week’s sourdough cracker recipe, have two goals: capture some sour flavor and use your starter. Sourdough’s leavening power doesn’t take charge: you’re still relying on baking soda, baking powder, or both to create the cookies’ shape. That puts them in the same category as Sourdough Pancakes, Sourdough Waffles, and quick breads.

But unlike those baked goods, putting sourdough starter in cookies bumps up against some problems. Most cookies have a low hydration level—they have little or no added liquid. The “wet” ingredients they do have usually contain fats, proteins, and other elements that balance the cookie recipe. This week, I focus on things I’ve learned about baking cookies with sourdough and the best recipes to use with your starter.
Learn to make sourdough cookies

Biscotti

On December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic4 Comments

Biscotti pair well with tea, coffee, or even an evening alcoholic sipper. Get biscotti recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
At some point in my childhood, my mom started making biscotti at Christmas. As a kid, it was low on my priority list—there were so many other, sweeter cookies in the house. But even though my mom was the household’s master baker, my dad, sister, and I ate most of her creations before she had a chance to enjoy them with a cup of tea and a good book. She probably made biscotti because we tended to leave it for her.

Now that I’m older, I’ve come to appreciate these twice-baked cookies. They pair well with tea, coffee, or even an evening alcoholic sipper. When I traveled in Italy, I ate them with straight espresso and once with a dry Italian dessert wine I assumed was a type of sherry but later discovered was called vin santo (holy wine). The Italians are biscotti masters, traditionally flavoring them with almonds. But the technique works with many flavors, from nuts and dried fruit to my mom’s favorite gingerbread biscotti. And because they’re so dry, they can be stored a long time, making them ideal for sending to others.
Learn to make my Biscotti Master Recipe and several flavors

Oatmeal Cookies

On December 10, 2020December 10, 2020 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, IngredientLeave a comment

I think oatmeal cookie should pack as much flavor as possible into each bite. Get cookie recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Have you ever eaten an oatmeal cookie that tastes like overly sweet yet bland hot cereal? I have. So when I set out to create oatmeal cookie recipes, I wanted to pack as much flavor as possible into each bite. If the ingredient lists for this week’s recipes seem long, it’s intentional: Good cookies contain layers of flavors and textures.

I started by thinking about how to bring out the best flavor from the rolled oats. As I’ve shared elsewhere, I’ve never been a fan of plain oatmeal and instead mix several grains into my hot cereal and granola blends. But cookies bake so quickly that some grains don’t have time to soften. So I stuck with rolled oats (never instant) and used browned butter to boost the nutty flavor of the cookies—all without actually adding nuts.

Several blends build on this base layer of flavor and texture. Blending white and whole-wheat flours balances the oat flakes. Using baking soda and baking powder gives cookies Goldilocks cred—not too flat, not too tall. Blending spices or using smoky salt deepens their flavor. Finally, combining sweeteners enhances flavor and hits the happy medium between too chewy and too crispy.

If you have a cookie craving and limited supplies, you can replace these blends with all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon and regular salt, and white sugar. If you’re in a rush, just cream room-temperature butter instead of browning it. Try simplifying each recipe sometime as an experiment: You’ll still make cookies, but they’ll taste a little one-dimensional.
Learn to make Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies and Oatmeal–Pumpkin Cookies

Sending Cookies, With Love

On December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic2 Comments

This year, I think it’s more important than ever that we send food, with love. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
There’s no point in sugarcoating it: The winter holidays will look different for almost all of us this year. For most of us, holiday parties, cookie and gift exchanges, and family gatherings will be smaller, virtual, or nonexistent. But there are still plenty of ways to share the holiday cheer—particularly with food.

Despite concerns early in the COVID-19 pandemic about food and packaging contact that had us wiping down milk jugs with bleach and putting store-bought goods in short-term quarantine, we now know that food and its packaging are among the least of our virus-spread concerns. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “Currently, no cases of COVID-19 have been identified where infection was thought to have occurred by touching food, food packaging, or shopping bags.” We also know that food, particularly homemade food, can provide comfort, remembrance, joy, and more. So this year, I think it’s more important than ever that we send food, with love.

Since I’ve been on a pickling rampage most of the year, much to my cookie-loving sister’s disappointment, it’s time to bring some sweets to the Twice as Tasty table. Here are some foods I’ll be shipping to family and friends this holiday season.
Read more about sending holiday treats

A Little Sweetness

On September 3, 2020January 4, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Recipes with a little sweetness use what’s in season and in your pantry. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
I’m going to keep this post short, because my mind is still buried in pickles and my forthcoming cookbook. You’ve been hearing about it vaguely for months, and official announcements, giveaways, launch party invites, and more are on their way to newsletter subscribers and blog followers in the coming weeks. (But since you’re reading this, you may want to check out the preorder page on Amazon.) And next month, I’ll be sharing recipes directly from the book.

In the meantime, I thought a break from pickles might be good for me—and you. So this month, I’ll be sharing some sweeter recipes that use what’s in season and in your pantry.
Read more about a little sweetness

Peanut Butter

On December 11, 2018May 8, 2022 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Ingredient2 Comments

You’ll fall for these peanut butter cookies that can be enjoyed year-round and dressed up for special occasions. Get cookie recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
Call it tradition, call it an excuse to eat sweets, but December calls most of us to bake cookies. My family’s cookie routine starts just after Thanksgiving, when we prepare Vanilla Bean Cookies and Chocolate Rum Balls so that they can “ripen” in time for Christmas. Many other cookies follow, with old favorites and new flavors filling the holiday platter when the family finally gathers.

Many holiday cookies only appear once a year, but I always add some all-occasion cookies to the plate. I tackled peanut butter cookies this year. These cookies have been around for close to a century, with most sources attributing the classic crosshatched pattern to a 1930s Pillsbury cookbook. But many recipes specifically avoid natural peanut butters and instead pile extra sweeteners onto commercial peanut butters already heavy on the sugar and hydrogenated oils. Recipes I’ve tried that call for freshly ground peanut butter turn out more peanut slab than cookie. By testing and tweaking basic cookie ratios, I came up with a version that can be enjoyed year-round and dressed up for special occasions.
Learn to make Freshly Ground Peanut Butter Cookies and Peanut–Ganache Thumbprint Cookies