Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

 Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorite types of cookies, and this recipe makes it so easy to have in a short amount of time! There are only 3 ingredients (which are usually already in my kitchen), and they bake up in almost no time at all. Soft, chewy, and delicious, these cookies are a must try!

Ingredients:
1 cup of peanut butter
5 oz (a little over a 1/2 cup) of lightly packed light brown sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and sugar and mix. Add the egg and mix until everything is well combined.

Three ingredients

Mixing the cookie dough

Cover baking pans with cookie sheets or wax paper (do not grease them, the peanut butter has enough oil!) Form round balls with the cookie dough (about 1 inch in diameter), and place them on the prepared cookie sheets. Take a fork and make crosshatch marks while flattening each of the cookies.

Cookies ready for the oven

Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the sides start to brown a little. Take them out and allow them to cool on the baking sheets for 15-20 minutes before removing them. Enjoy with a cup of milk or tea!

Note: Depending on the brand of peanut butter you use, the cookie dough may come out too greasy. Just add a bit of flour until it reaches cookie dough consistency and holds together. Mine did not need flour but the dough wasn't as firm as I would have liked, so I refrigerated the dough for about 10 minutes before forming the cookies. 

Mini Fruit Pies

This idea came to me as I was brainstorming for baked goods to bring to a pathology lab meeting. There had already been brownies and cookies brought at previous meetings, so I thought a pie would be a good change...only thing was that it would be difficult to slice and serve a pie during lab. Instead, I decided to make a variety of mini pies so that everyone would be able to have one of their own without all the mess. I made caramel apple, pineapple, and cherry pies, so I've included the instructions for making each of those fillings as well.

Ingredients:
     2 batches of pie crust dough (or 2 store-bought pie crust dough sets)
     Fruit filling (see below)
     1 egg
     1 tablespoon of milk
     2 tablespoons of white sugar for sprinkling
     Caramel sauce (I used store-bought), optional

Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out each piece of the pie dough to about 1/8 inch on a counter top (I use a sheet of wax paper for easy cleanup and a non-stick surface). Drop tablespoonfuls of fruit filling around one of the dough sets and spread around with the back of the spoon. Place the rolled out top dough over the bottom one with the filling. Use a cookie cutter (I used the top of a mug) to cut out circles around each set of filling. Cut slits on the top of each circle to allow steam to release from the pies as they bake.

Bring the scraps of dough together into a ball and roll out to about 1/8 of an inch again. Continue to make the pies as directed above until there is not enough dough left to make any more. In a small bowl beat the egg and the milk together. Place the pies on a cookie sheet and brush the top of each one with the egg wash. Sprinkle each with sugar and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops of the pies are golden brown. Cool before removing from the cookie sheet.

Alternatively, cut one set of the rolled out dough into thin strips. Weave into a lattice and place over the bottom dough with the filling. Continue by cutting as directed above, brushing with egg wash, and sprinkling with sugar.

Strips to weave into a lattice

Mini lattice pies

FRUIT FILLINGS:
Apple filling:
     2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into small chunks
     2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
     1 tablespoon of cornstarch
     1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
     pinch of cinnamon
     1/4 cup of water
Add everything into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the apples are tender and the filling has thickened, about 5-6 minutes. Cool before filling the pies. (For the apple pies, I add a little bit of caramel sauce onto the dough first and then the apple filling on top of it.)

Pineapple filling:
     1 can of crushed pineapple with juice
     1/2 cup of white sugar
     3 teaspoons of cornstarch
     1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Add everything to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for about a minute, until thickened. Cool before filling the pies.

Cherry filling:
     1 cup of tart red cherries, pitted and chopped
     1/4 cup of sugar
     1 tablespoon of cornstarch
Add the cherries to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Once the cherries have released some of their juices, add the sugar and cornstarch. Continue to cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Cool before filling the pies.

Note: There are instructions for making pie dough from scratch in my Dutch Apple Pie recipe post. Enjoy!