Soft and Salty and Delicious

I just love caramel. Salted caramel, in particular. So when I saw this recipe, which is from The Art and Soul of Baking, which I covet, I knew I had to make it.

Peanut butter cookies are wonderful in general, but when you add homemade peanut caramel to the middle of them...well, I don't know if it gets better than that. The cookies are dense and peanut butter-y, like they should be, and the caramel is soft and salty and delicious.

I also made the cookies much larger than they're supposed to be. For a recipe that's supposed to make 50 cookies, I got 25. Whoops. More room for caramel, is what I say. And you want as much caramel as you can get. I would eat this caramel with a spoon. Actually, I did eat this caramel with a spoon, because the recipe makes a ton of extra. Ice cream? Apple dip? There are a million possibilities. Another note about the caramel is that it doesn't totally set. It's not runny, but if you, say, poked a finger into it, your finger would come away sticky. Just something to think about.

To to sum up: peanuts+salt+caramel=make this now.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Salted Peanut Caramel
From David Lebovitz via The Art and Soul of Baking

Makes 50 small or 25 medium-sized cookies

8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (120g) packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (200g) creamy salted peanut butter (regular, not natural, is best)
1 3/4 cups (250g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup (125ml) water
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup or glucose
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup (100g) finely chopped roasted salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

With an electric mixer, or by hand, make the cookie dough by beating the butter, brown and granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. If using an electric mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Beat in the peanut butter.

In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir until there are no patches of flour.

Scoop up tablespoon-sized portions of the dough and roll each piece between your hands so they're as smooth as possible so they don't crack at the edges when performing the next step.

Space them 1 1/2-inches (2 cm) apart on the baking sheets, then use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, or your thumb, to make a depression in each one. Don't worry much if the sides crack; push them back together.

Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during cooking, until they are light-golden brown and the edges barely start to darken. Remove from oven, and while they're warm, press in to reinforce each depression with the end of the wooden spoon. Let cool completely.

Make the salted peanut caramel by warming the cream in a saucepan or microwave, and setting it aside. (Don't skip this step! If you add cold cream to the caramel, the sugar will crystallize too quickly. If this happens, immediately stir the mixture vigorously over low heat until the sugar melts again.)

Cook the water, 1 cup sugar, corn syrup, and salt to a caramel, gently swirling the pan only if necessary (to ensure it melt and cooks evenly) until it turns a nice golden brown. (This always takes longer than you think it will, but once it starts happening, it goes quickly. My very imprecise measure of timing is this: I wait until I start to get nervous that it's about to burn, let it cook for another twenty seconds, and then take it off. In terms of looks, if you add the cream to the caramel and it still looks translucent and dark, then it's burnt. It should be golden and cloudy.)

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the hot cream in a slow, steady stream.

Cool until warm and pourable, then add the chopped peanuts. Spoon some of the caramel into each cookie, letting it set for about an hour, if you want to drizzle them with chocolate.

Storage: Cookies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 3 to 4 days. The unbaked dough can be rolled into rounds and stored in a heavy-duty freezer bag in the refrigerator or freezer, until ready to bake.

Peanut Butter and Sympathy

Last week, I found out that I didn't get something that I really, really wanted.  And honestly, who doesn't want $28,000 to travel around the world and work on a non-academic project? But the point is, I did research for months, made contacts on four continents, and now...nothing.  C'est la vie, right?  

The important part, though, is what came out of this self-pity: more cupcakes.  I realize that I write about cupcakes a lot on this blog, but really they're kind of ideal for me at the moment.  They're more substantial than cookies, thereby increasing the amount of comfort they provide to my mopey self, and they're more portable than cake.  

For my self-pity cupcakes, I decided on peanut butter, with chocolate ganache.  I was afraid, with the way my luck was going, that they wouldn't turn out.  Luckily, they did. 

They're a perfect balance of sweet--the peanut butter is subtle, and salty enough to combat the rich, chocolaty ganache.  The cupcakes are moist, and even though I had my doubts about a (very thin) layer of ganache as frosting at first, once I tried one, I was sold.  

Make these cupcakes for any reason.  Self-pity, celebration, whatever.  But I can tell you from experience, they certainly help ease the pain.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Icing

Adapted from "Chocolate Bar"

Makes 18 large cupcakes

1/4 cup peanut butter (I used all-natural)

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups sifted flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cups milk

8 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 tbsp. light corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line the muffin tin with paper cups.

Cream the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until well mixed.  Gradually add the sugar to the mixture, beating until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.  In three alternating batches, add the sifted ingredients and milk to the batter.   Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed in between additions.  Beat until incorporated.

Fill the cups to just below the rim, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Do not overbake.  Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring the cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely.

Now for the icing.  In a heavy 1-quart saucepan, combine the cream, butter, and corn syrup and cook over medium heat until not but not boiling (little beads will form on the sides of the pot).  Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until blended.  Let the ganache cool for 15-20 minutes.  Dip the tops of the cupcakes.  (This recipe will probably make more ganache than you need, so you can most likely cut the recipe in half and be fine.  I haven't tried it, though, so use your own discretion.)