Nuts and Bolts:

Flourless peanut butter cookie is a family favorite because they are a soft, salty, and peanut buttery cookie. It is a recipe found on Smitten Kitchen around Passover time a few years ago. It is not a Passover recipe per se, but it does not contain flour or a leavener. So it is my favorite cookie around Pesach or any other time of the year in my mess.

My thoughts on Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies:

1. Our family makes this cookie year-round, but it is a favorite around Passover. Our family is fine with having peanut butter over Pesach.  Others believe it is kitniyot and is not kosher for Passover. 

2. It only has five ingredients, which are all easy to find.

3. This recipe works using either volume measurements or by weighing ingredients in grams.  If you use volume measurements, the cookies are not light but have more of a peanut butter flavor. If you weigh the ingredients, the cookie will be soft and have less peanut butter flavor.

Method:

For this recipe, you will need 3 ½ cups (335g)packed light brown sugar, four large eggs at room temperature, one teaspoon vanilla extract, 3 ½ (450g)smooth peanut butter, and coarse grain sea salt.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Then line two rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Important tip: Older brown sugar can get hard; I like to store mine in the freezer then heat it for 20 seconds to loosen. For this recipe, I do that first and let it rest on the counter to come down to room temperature.

After either measuring or weighing out the brown sugar, place it in a medium to large size bowl. Then using a whisk to break up the brown sugar to get rid of all big clumps. I do this so that the batter will not have sugar lumps. Then I crack my four eggs into a pitcher, pour one egg into the brown sugar, break the yolk with the whisk, and whip it together with the sugar. Continue to add one egg at a time and break the yolk to mix until all of the eggs are incorporated. Then whisk in the vanilla.

Important tip: The type of peanut butter here is important. This recipe does not work well with all fresh ground nut butter. It is better to use a  Jiffy or Skippy type of peanut butter. It is less oily and gives the cookie a better texture and flavor.

Measure or weigh the peanut butter and whisk it into the sugar. This part will give you a good workout. If too much of the peanut butter gets stuck in the balloon of the whisk, then tap the balloon of the whisk with the side of the bowl to release peanut butter.  Keep whisking the peanut butter mixture until you can pull the ribbons of the dough out of the bowl with the whisk. It is a very wet and soft dough that will not hold its shape. 

Next, using either a cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop, dish out the dough on the prepared cookie sheets. I use an ice cream scoop because I like big cookies. Once it is all scooped, place the cookie sheet into the freezer for 15 minutes. This helps the cookies keep their shapes to make a better cookie.  Then take the trays out of the freezer and dust each cookie with the sea salt. Then bake them in the oven for 14-20 minutes, depending on the cookie's size. They are done when they have a crispy film on top of the cookie, and the edges start to brown. Then remove the cookie sheet from the oven and let them rest on the trays for 15 minutes. Carefully take them off the trays. They might be a bit sticky so let them cool on the rack.

Final thought: 

I love these cookies because they are chewy and flavorful, even though they do not use many ingredients. It does take a few tries to master them, but they are worth it.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/