Categories: CreateMake Stuff

A Sweet Treat, PB Cookies, from Author Katee Robert!

Real talk. February and March kind of suck. Sure, there are cool things that come with these months. You get to eat your weight in chocolate on Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day. You get to pretend you’re Irish and drink your weight in beer on St. Paddy’s day. My birthday is in February!

What do you mean you don’t celebrate my birthday like a national holiday? I’m shocked. And hurt. So hurt.

But in between those admittedly great-ish holidays, the weather is doing its best to break you.

It’s snowy or rainy or just generally gross and cold outside, and even when the clouds part and you can see a glimpse of the sun, you’re punished by bitter cold that makes your face hurt. Ouch.

I’m an inside kid. I’ll admit it. I love fall, and winter is my jam. But even though I love bundling up with blankets and drinking tea and locking myself in the house with really good books, eventually even I start to crave some Vitamin D so much, I almost forget that it comes with really terrible seasonal allergies. April is really the cruelest month of all…

What can I say? I’m a little ray of sunshine this time of year.

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Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to summon an elder god to give us a break from the winter that seems to be lasting particularly long this year. But I do have the next best thing.

A delicious cookie recipe!

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Full disclosure – this recipe is spawned from one in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that I bought eleventy billion years ago. I’ve adapted it over the years, and now I’m sharing my success with you. Move over Mrs. Fields! These peanut butter cookies will rock your world!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup honey*

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups all-purposes flour

Granulated sugar in a small bowl

*Don’t use spun honey…trust me on this. Mistakes were made, my friends. Mistakes were made

Now for the nitty, gritty stuff:

Preheat your oven to 375* This is the step I always forget and then I’m forced to eat half the dough while I wait for the oven to catch up. Don’t be like me. Preheat that oven before you get started!
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter together. I don’t have arms of steel, so I highly recommend some kind of electric mixer to do the heavy lifting on this.
Add in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, baking soda, and baking powder. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowls because things can get…messy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla. There is so much beating in this recipe. Sing ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson. Yes, that’s a recommendation, not an actual instruction. Maybe add a bit more vanilla if that’s your jam. I always do because I’m a party animal like that.
Beat in as much flour as you can. Go slow because that shit likes to fly all over your kitchen and you’ll be finding evidence of it for days to come. Or go fast and live your life on the edge. You’re the boss, my friend! Now stir in the rest of the flour. This is the point where you can be responsible and cover and chill the dough so it’s easier to work with. I never do because, again, I’m a total party animal. Just a real wild child. Yep.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls. You don’t have to be exactly precise on this, but I highly recommend not making giant ass cookies because the consistency of the bake will be off and then you won’t be putting Mrs. Fields to shame, and no one wants that. Give those balls a toss in the granulated sugar you set aside back when you got started.
Place those sugary balls on your baking sheet, roughly 2 inches apart. I recommend greasing the sheet or use parchment paper (I prefer the latter because there’s minimal cleanup) to keep those cookies from sticking. Flatten the balls with a fork and make criss-crosses on the top. Bonus points if you sing ‘Jump’ by Kriss Kross while doing it.
Bake 7-9 minutes. You want the edges to be slightly brown but the middles to look a little soft. Let those beauties rest for about a minute on the sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy the hell out of those cookies! You earned them!

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Fearless King by Katee Robert out now!

Journey King is an expert at managing the family business. But when her father returns to Houston hell-bent on making a play for the company, Journey will do anything to stop him, even if that means going to Frank Evans for help. Frank deals in information, the dirtier the better. Rugged and rock solid, he’s by far her best ally — and also the most dangerous.

Frank knows better than to get tangled up with the Kings. But something about Journey’s rare vulnerability drags him deep into enemy territory… and into her darkest past. Pretending to be her boyfriend may be necessary for their plan to work, but Frank soon finds helping Journey is much more than just another job – and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

Katee Robert

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa's knee. Her 2015 title The Marriage Contract was a RITA finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it 'a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension." When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.