PB&J Cookies

 So last weekend we went up to The Ranch. It was a grand old time as usual. That probably goes without saying considering the fact that I brought funfetti whoopie pies.


But even without cookies, we still would have had a blast whoopin' everybody's butts in pool and breaking open the slot machines in the lodge and so we could play all the quarters right back in. Our pontoon paddle boat still would have tipped upside down in slow motion in the middle of the ice cold lake so that we had to swim to shore like drowned, hysterically laughing rats. Piggie and I still would have won second place in the big golf-cart scavenger hunt thanks to Wilbur and Boots, our six-year-old co-pilots, and their determination to win the grand prize of FIVE DOLLARS EACH (Wilbur asked a magic eight ball once if he would be as rich as Mr. Krabbs and it told him he would, so he KNEW we had to win). All of that still would have happened without the cookies. But still... the cookies were amazing.

Life-changing actually.

These cookies: also amazing.

Just pretend that pan is really clean and there's not black stuff on it.

Seriously, I have peanut butter at least sixty-seven times a day. It is the heart and soul of my existence. I would be a different person without it, an incomplete soul with vague look of emptiness in my eyes. Or something.

A plain PB&J is not my style though. Squishy white bread with cheap, grape jelly out of a squirt bottle? No thanks. A PB&J must be on sourdough. Buttered on the outside and then toasted in the oven until the peanut butter runs like liquid gold and the homemade strawberry jam is so hot that it scalds the roof of your mouth.  Either that, or these chewy, little cookies. I'm cool with either.



And um, this is off the record, but.... I had to use the cheap grape squeeze jelly for these. It was all we had. I'm sorry. 

PB&J Thumbprint Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt 
A jar of jelly

Cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar, honey, and vanilla. Add the egg and beat just until combined. In a separate bowl, add the flour, soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture.  Place heaping tablespoonfuls on baking sheets and lightly press with your thumb. Fill hole with jelly. Bake at 375º for 7-9 minutes. The jelly should set as it cools.