While I wasn’t thrilled to try another McCormick recipe (see Mocha Slice Cookies), I thought these looked good. And we all know I did have to share the blame for substituting ingredients on that one.

Here’s another sparkly, pretty cookie. Let’s do this.

Shannon came over and offered to assist. I was weary (no offense, Shannon), but decided to delegate some tasks.

I had her read the ingredients so I could pull them out and measure. She was busy talking to Dustin about irrigating a catheter the whole time – both appropriate and efficient.

Step 1: Gather ingredients: flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, egg, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, brown sugar.

Step 2: Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

Easy!

Step 3: Mix remaining ingredients 

Some of the peanut butter stuck to the sides even though I had the SCRAPER EDGE BEATER. WTF, Kitchenaid?!

Step 4: Add flour mixture

Look at the sides! Luckily it was still all mixed. You’re safe this time, Kitchenaid.

Step 5: Chill for 2 hours

Cool, time to do dishes! That’s what my assistant is for. Nope. She went and sat on my couch!

In that 2 hours, we went to Target, ordered pizza, and played Wii. All my favorite things!

Step 6: Roll dough into 1-inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. 

(Shannon gets credit for this artsy shot)

This recipe didn’t specify if/how to line the baking sheet (stupid McCormick), so I chose Silpat.
Step 7: Press fork in classic peanut butter cookie criss-cross pattern

The fork kept getting stuck in the dough. I ended up dusting it with sugar before pressing down. It kinda worked.

This is pan 2 with my new “Sil-Eco” pad. Some are prettier than others (mostly others)

Step 8: Have your assistant put them in the oven. Make ’em hot. 

Guess what happened right after I pulled these out of the oven? The pizza guy arrived!

“GIVE HIM A COOKIE!” yelled Kristina. Great idea! A third-party review!

“Delicious!”

What. A. Success. The Pizza Hut guy liked them. That means I made Martha proud, right? Right?

Step 9: Make the cheesiest pizza face you can.

Other reviews:
Todd: Tasted the cinnamon. Didn’t know they were peanut butter.
Shannon: Tasted the peanut butter. Didn’t taste the cinnamon.
Dustin: Favorite cookie so far.
Brittany: Would have been better if I underbaked them so they were more chewy.

Link to original recipe (They didn’t even put it on Martha’s site!)

Start time: 8:35
End time: 11:19 (2 hours, 44 minutes)
Martha’s estimated time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yields: 36
I got: 36 (well, I got 37, but the last one didn’t fit so I made Shannon eat the dough)

What did I learn?

• Tightly packing brown sugar is fun
• Pizza and cookies can cause upset stomachs

What do I need to learn?

• Did the fork get stuck because I was pressing too hard?

I was happy to have Shannon and had fun. I’m just giving her a hard time. Don’t hate on me, gurl. Let’s do it again.

That recipe was pretty easy and, I guess, kind of boring. I’ve been afraid to try something difficult. I’ll do it for the next one. Wish me luck!