A couple of great dessert blogs and a recipe

If you have some spare time, check out this great cupcake blog (thanks! Karen) and the Joy of Baking link on the right. I know with temps beginning to drop I have the urge to bake more and more, or at least ask Zach to whip up some tasty baked goods. Yum, the house smells so good while making the treats from these websites.

Here's another great recipe. Good ol' fashioned peanut butter cookies. The recipe is adapted from The New Best Recipe from the editors of Cooks Illustrated. Definitely one of our go to cookbooks.

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup extra crunchy unsweetened all natural peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars, beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture.
4. Working with generous 2 tablespoons each, roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Place on baking sheets spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart. Press each dough ball twice with a dinner fork dipped in cold water to make a crisscross design.
5. Bake until the cookies are puffed and slightly browned around the edges, but not the top, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom half way through. Cool cookies on the baking sheets until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.