How the Cookie Crumbles

Since peanut butter and milk create a complete protein, warm peanut butter cookies with a glass of cold milk should equal health food, right?

During my last day off before school starts I lounged around the house, flipped through catalogs, contemplated paint chips, dreamed of a kitchen renovation, and made cookies. It seemed a fitting end to summer. The guys generally like chocolate chip cookies best, but I prefer sugar cookies, snicker doodles, or old fashioned peanut butter. Besides, the plan is to impress all the new department members with my baking skills in an effort to win them over via gastronomical bribery. (We now have 19 English teachers at my school, 11 of whom are new this year.) Since we have to start the day with a huge district meeting (read several hours of haranguing), I need a treat that won't melt in the car, and cookies (without any sort of chip) are my best bet.

I use the same Better Homes and Gardens recipe my mom used when I was a kid, and they still taste great. I remember dipping a small fork in a plate of sugar before using the tines to make the trademark criss-cross design of peanut butter cookies. Once or twice I have used the bottom of a glass to flatten the dough, but they're just not as good if they don't look like the ones I grew up eating. Of course, not all peanut butter cookies are good. Some people leave them in the oven too long mistakenly thinking that they should be crisp rather than chewy. Even the recipe itself advocates this method with a cooking time of 10 to 12 minutes. However, I disregard cookie cooking times knowing that allowing them to continue baking on the pan for several minutes after they come out of the oven makes the bottom slightly crusty and leaves the insides soft and munchable. (The first batch goes in for about 9 minutes if the oven isn't completely preheated, but only 8 minutes are needed after that.)

I think these golden bites of dough will do the trick of endearing me to new and returning teachers alike, because all good school leaders know if you don't feed the teachers, they eat the students.