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Easy lemon cookies & my famous peanut butter ones

February 18, 2010 by Emily Hill 9 Comments

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:

Plum Organics{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?)

Plum Organics

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:

Peanut butter cookies{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.

Peanut butter cookies

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.

Peanut butter cookies{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.

Peanut butter cookies{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!

Filed Under: food & recipes Tagged With: cookies, lemon cookies, peanut butter cookies, Plum Organics, puree, recipe

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. debbie

    February 18, 2010 at 7:28 am

    I think I’d fight someone who tried to take my Pampered Chef scoop away from me!
    Your cookies look incredible.

    Reply
  2. Susie's Homemade

    February 18, 2010 at 8:16 am

    I love Pampered Chef and I use that thing EVERY DAY!!

    Reply
  3. Camille

    February 18, 2010 at 11:23 am

    I’m so in love with that camera! They definitely do make a difference in the pictures! And those cookies? I’m craving peanut butter… :)

    Reply
  4. Quinn

    February 18, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    I could easily lick the frosting off the lemon cookie pic… mmmm….

    Loving your “famous” peanut butter cookies recipe and the lighting in the final pic is GORGEOUS. Woot for Em and her new camera (& mad baking skills)!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Boutique Café » Blog Archive » Plum Organics: Lots for TOTs & JUST for baby says:
    February 18, 2010 at 8:58 am

    […] for the second recipe I substituted a pouch of JUST apples in one of my favorite lemon cookie recipes. (You can find the recipe on isthisREALLYmylife.com.) These babies were also super tasty thanks to […]

    Reply
  2. Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe- pinterest challenge - I'm Topsy Turvy says:
    August 15, 2011 at 5:31 am

    […] I came across this amazing, and simple peanut butter cookie recipe from Emily at Is This Really My Life. It’s amazing! I might try adding chocolate to it next time, either in chips, or maybe dipped […]

    Reply
  3. Pinned & prepped: Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies | is this REALLY my life? says:
    March 26, 2012 at 12:11 am

    […] they’d totally do in a pinch, but I think I’ll stick with my famous peanut butter cookies or freezer-friendly oatmeal peanut butter cookies and toss in a couple handfuls of chocolate […]

    Reply
  4. Cookie dough-filled triple chocolate bundt cake - is this REALLY my life? | is this REALLY my life? says:
    February 19, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    […] time I’m going to use my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe for the frozen dough. I’m drooling all over the keyboard just thinking about the […]

    Reply
  5. Freezer-friendly oatmeal peanut butter cookies - is this REALLY my life? | is this REALLY my life? says:
    February 10, 2014 at 11:11 am

    […] So far we’ve found most every cookie freezes well, from a good coconut oatmeal cookie or my favorite peanut butter cookie to this delicious crunchy whole wheat cookie. I bet even these healthy oatmeal chocolate chip […]

    Reply

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