June 20, 2016

A New Stove and Disney Peanut Butter Cookies

I am happy with the way my new oven bakes!
(Not so happy with this blurry selfie photo, though. :o()

She had served us well.  Miss Whirlpool had been with us the eleven years we have lived in our Maryland home.  Our 27-year old, (Miss) Whirlpool double wall oven, had baked up eleven years worth of delicious Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and festive birthday cakes. She had baked up yummy family meals and goodies,including countless numbers of Dale’s famous mouthwatering creation of Chef Boyardee Pizza (always made with additional mozerella cheese on top.).

Dale’s pizza specialty

Did you know that Chef Boyardee oversaw the food served for President Wilson’s wedding, and produced rations for servicemen in WWII ?
Read more about Chef Boyardee, originally known as Ettore Boiardi, who lived in Cleveland, here.
(My husband grew up in Cleveland!
Way to go last night, Cav’s, winning the championship !!!!)

It had become apparent, after a bevy of burnt-to-a-crisp items,
that Miss Whirlpool had seen better baking days. :o(

Miss Whirlpool had seen better days, and her cooking temperatures had become erratic. 

After some research in Consumer Reports (Thanks Dale!), it was a trip to our local Sears to oven shop.

We bought this. 

It has been fun testing out our new oven using my tried and true recipes.  I had been saving the oven’s handy-dandy convection feature, however, for something special.

For its maiden voyage baking, I opted to bake a Disney cookie recipe that I had tried once before in my old oven.

Disney Peanut Butter Cookies
May 2016

Disney’s Peanut Butter Cookie came to my tastebud’s attention when we were visiting  Walt Disney World in November 2015.  Mike, my son-in-law (Martese’s husband), and I became big fans after just one bite. We had been  given free samples while strolling by the
Prairie Outpost and Supply  in Frontierland. We were hooked! So good!

Photos thanks to the kindness of  DisneyFoodBlog!
Click here to visit this fun Disney foodie blog.

 Thanks to the “magic” (Yes, that was a pun. Magic Kingdom-magic…) of the Internet and Pinterest, I came across Six Sister’s recipe for their knock off of this cookie of peanut butter awesomeness here.  I made a few changes of my own and christened our new convection oven by baking up this Disney treat.  :o)  My recipe and instructions are below.

To follow my Pinterest account, go here.

Mike washes down his peanut butter cookie sample with his Country Bears (jug) beverage.
Read more about that Walt Disney World trip, here.

Speaking of Disney…My family and I love Disney!  We have been blessed to be able to enjoy family time on Disney soil on several occasions. In an earlier blog, here, I shared about a recent trip to Walt Disney Studios.  Here are a few photos from that same trip, at Disneyland.

Disneyland
March 2016

Natasha, Martese (my daughter and Mike’s wife)  and I were all happy to be at Disneyland!

I enjoyed one of my favorite rides, “It’s a Small World“. :o)

Natasha and Martese check out some of the sights and smells of Disneyland.

One of my favorite areas in Disney’s California Adventure: Cars Land.

This smiling Disney employee obligingly agreed to pose with me in front of Flo’s V Cafe.

Disneyland’s Blue Bayou Restaurant was the spot for my fun birthday meal.

We were all surprised by the “light-up” menu.  :o)

A view of the dining experience at The Blue Bayou.
To the left, the bluish area, overlooks to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride.

I was presented this delicious Mickey chocolate  birthday treat in honor of my birthday.

The Blue Bayou Gumbo is famous for a reason.  It was wonderful!

The Blue Bayou staff kindly gave me this recipe to recreate their yummy gumbo.

Mickey and Walt are flanked by our happy crew:
Dale, Annette, Martese, Natasha.

Evening is magical at Disney’s California Adventure.

To read more about our fun 2016 Disneyland trip, click here.

The Recipe

Disney’s Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I use Jiff)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
3 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3-1/2 cup granulated sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  (For convection oven, 350 degrees)

In large mixing bowl,
cream together the butter,
peanut butter,
1 cup of granulated sugar,
and light brown sugar.

Add vanilla.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg.

In a separate bowl,
mix flour,
baking soda,
and salt together well.
Add this mixture into mixing bowl and stir until completely combined.
(I stirred ingredients in, and used mixer to quickly finish blending together well.)

Place remaining 1/3-1/2 cup of granulated sugar in bowl.
Using cookie scoop, form dough into 1 and 1/2 inch balls.
Roll dough ball in sugar until completely covered.

Place dough balls on baking sheet that has been lined with parchment.

Use a flat-bottomed drinking glass to gently press down each dough ball.
Leave fairly thick. (These cookies will stay whatever thickness that you press them to.)

Bake cookies 7-10 minutes, checking  after 7 minutes, and in minute intervals thereafter.
These cookies are very soft.  Do not overbake them, or allow them to turn brown at all.
They will continue to set up as you cool them on the pan.

Remove cookies from oven, allowing them to cool on their cookie sheet for 5 minutes,
then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Place in sealed, air-tight container, once totally cooled.

Gilding the Lily-Add about a cup, or so, of Reece’s Peanut Butter Chips

Thanks for reading!

Annette

Note-Due to a technical error (more accurately, mine), many of the photos from past blog posts were accidently deleted several months ago. I have been working to replace them, and most are now back in place. If you wish to view my past blogs and photos, click here, or go to annettehoffman.wordpress.com, or  coming very soon imannette.net .

I attempt to post my blog once per month. My next post will be around, July 15.

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Planning a trip to a Disney Destination?

Our Daughter, Martese, is a Magic Maker® for Off to Neverland Travel,
an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner for any of the Disney Destinations,
and other vacation locations.
Martese’s vacation planning services are totally FREE!
Martese is a wealth of Disney information!!!
Click here for her website, or
here for her Facebook page.

In-between Disneyland rides, I spotted some flowers in my favorite color, purple!  :o)