Vegan Peanut Butter Sandies

This cookie isn't your typical peanut butter cookie--no fork tine and crosshatched business required. Which is good, because having to maneuver a fork over balls of dough poses challenges for me right now. Simple baking only. One handed baking and cooking only. It's okay. These peanut butter cookies surprised me. They have a light, crumbly texture--even with the addition of my natural chunky style peanut butter. By my own insistence that I get back to baking, I stumbled upon this recipe in the New York Times for cookie inspiration. Julia Moskin was on a mission to recreate this cookie from City Bakery in New York. There are seventy-five comments regarding the cookie making attempts. I read them all (because why not). To make vegan, I simply used flax egg--with so few ingredients, it's really a very easy cookie to make/adapt. (I will admit that though I love a peanut butter cookie, just the thought of the measuring cup after sort of makes me not pursue it as regularly as I'd like.) What an insane concern. As a fan of peanut butter of all stripes, these have been worth the effort. I made them using my small cookie baking scoop. You will thank yourself later when you can't resist having another one.  

Took a little tumble a few weeks ago, and like THAT, I was in a cast. Broke my wrist, needed surgery, blah, blah, blah. The whole thing has been an awakening for me. My fifties so far have proven to be, well. . . I'm ready to skip into my sixties and forget this decade is all I'm saying. I'm not sugar-coating here nor do I need be reminded of how much worse it could have been. Were it not for my sister, my dear friends and my oh-so-patient husband, this ordeal may have been my undoing. We were on a hike, on a beautiful fall afternoon--the crispest, coolest Saturday we've had all year, then. . . DH saw me go down. Wrist was in a bit of a twisted and unnatural state at the end of my arm as I struggled to stand up, then came OMG! I broke my wrist! (and other choice words). Luckily I: 1) did not break my dominant hand 2) have an amazing orthopedic surgeon who saw to it that I was tended to per his direction in the ER and then subsequently operated on said fracture, and 3) had both a wonderful urgent care and hospital staff who utterly and completely took excellent care of me despite my cries, screams and moments of near passing out--and then made sure I was passed out to properly tend to the break: thank you!    


Other knitters/crocheters and bakers and people in general have had similar wrist break experiences. I know because I have read about them ALL. My first thought was: WHAT ABOUT KNITTING AND CROCHET: OMG! By my second week, there were fewer tears and woe is me-ing, and I finally picked up my needles and held them in my hand for the first time. 
Knitting Shoulder Cozy by Churchmouse Yarns.

The Puppy. . .The Runt--a fitting term of endearment as we have realized: we definitely have a runt. She weighs in at under forty pounds and. . .we are past our six month mark. Her sister weighed almost sixty by this point. She is just adorable and smart and loves, loves, loves her very big sissy. Though I think there are times when she wonders: when will I get that big? Actually, she's perfect just the way she is.


Vegan Peanut Butter Sandies
*adapted from NYT / Julia Moskin
makes appx. 24 cookies with small 1" cookie scoop

1/2 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup plus 2 T. brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 T. granulated sugar
1/2 t. fine sea salt
1 cup chunky natural peanut butter (I used Smuckers)
2 T. ground flaxseed + 4 T. water + 1 T. olive oil whisked (to replace egg)
1 cup all purpose flour
*extra sugar and salt for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Get your cookie sheet ready with parchment paper. In medium bowl, cream together the sugar and vegan butter--then add peanut butter and flax egg--mix well. Then add salt and flour and mix until just combined--don't over mix. Scoop out in small 1' cookie mounds. They won't spread so no worries on crowding. Then sift together 2 T. sugar and 1 t. sea salt or flake salt in a small bowl and lightly sprinkle over each cookie before baking. Bake for 15 minutes--you want them to brown a bit around edges.   


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