Easy lemon cookies & my famous peanut butter ones

Some of you may not know but I spend some of my writing energy reviewing products for Boutique Cafe’s Daily Dish. Today I gave my review of Plum Organics’ new “JUST” line of single-fruit USDA organic baby food (made with 100% fruist and no added sugar, juice, colors or flavors by the way). Because I don’t have any children willing to try young enough to test the samples Plum Organics sent, I decided to use the purees in a couple recipes.

The first recipe I won’t be sharing since you can easily find it on the back of the Betty Crocker Cinnabon Cinnamon Streusel muffin mix. I simply substituted 1/4 cup of JUST Bananas for one of the eggs. You couldn’t tell a difference in taste or appearance:

{I had to throw in the picture—our new Canon is so dang fun!}

But the lemon cookies I made using Plum Organics’ JUST Apples is a must-share. It’s super easy, totally not from scratch and yet tastes divine. I substituted 1/4 cup apple puree for one of the eggs, but you could easily substitute applesauce for an egg or the oil. Enjoy! (And yes, another photo because practice makes perfect. This one is a little dark but I didn’t have time to play with it. They’re still drool worthy, don’t you think?)

Easy Lemon Cookies

1 box lemon cake mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 can lemon frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine cake mix, oil and eggs. Mix well until lumps disappear and batter is cake-batter consistency. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes until set. (I used the small scoop from Pampered Chef** so they were bite size.) Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack. Frost with lemon frosting when completely cooled. Eat as many as you’d like!

And since we’re on the subject of cookies, how about I share with you my famous peanut butter cookie recipe? I started to take step-by-step photos and then realized (too late for some of you, I’m sure), my readers are smart enough to know how to cream butter and sugar and sift dry ingredients. So from now on I’ll include photos that either help explain a technique or are super nifty. (I really like the word “nifty” and use it a lot. I’m nifty like that.)

Without further adieu, here’s the recipe. I suggest freezing half the batch or you’ll eat four dozen peanut butter cookies in one sitting. Promise.

Emily’s Famous Peanut Butter Cookies*
* They’re not famous but it makes me happy to think so.

3/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl us an electric mixer to cream the butter. (Or forego the electric mixer and go right for the Kitchen Aid!) Add the brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar and cream together. Beat in the peanut butter—and here’s where I interrupt with a timely photo:

{I love the Measure-All Cup from Pampered Chef for things like shortening and peanut butter. No endless scraping of a typical measuring cup trying to get every last bit of peanut butter!}

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Mix in the vanilla extract.

In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. (Or do as I do and just mix those dry ingredients right into your cookie batter. I do the same with all my cookies because I hate dirtying an extra bowl!) Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and combine well.

Pour the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Take a heaping tablespoon of dough (love the medium scoop from Pampered Chef for these) and form into a ball. Coat the ball in sugar by rolling it around in the bowl. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

{Gosh, I love my camera!}

Press the tines of a fork into the balls to create the cross-cross pattern on the top and to flatten the dough a titch. (I like the word “titch” as much as I do ” nifty.”) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly brown around the bottom edges. Immediately freeze 2 dozen before inhaling them.

{These are the remaining six cookies after I “tested” the other six to make sure they were just as good as the first batch.}

** I am in no way affiliated with Pampered Chef other than I love–and use–a lot of their products. By the way, their large scoop is perfect for filling muffin tins!