Christmas Cookies

To keep my mind off of the crazy amounts of snow that were falling this past Saturday, I decided to bake some cookies. I usually bake Christmas cookies with my brother, who functions as both helper and Head Cookie Tester, but as he was snug in his own domicile on the other side of town, I thought I could bake a few kinds that might not interest him as much as the usual Toll House and snickerdoodles. He's deathly allergic to peanuts, so it seemed a good time to make peanut butter cookies.

I've never ever made peanut butter cookies, so not knowing the ultimate recipe, I went online and chose one at random. I like the idea of chewy cookies (although I'm seldom successful in achieving the proper chewy texture) so this recipe attracted my attention.

The chocolate-y blobs are mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's. I like to gild the lily.

Next up were chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies, which I discovered at Sweet Mary. She used Martha Stewart's recipe for these spicy cookies with cocoa powder and chocolate bits. I love gingerbread, and I love chocolate cookies, so these sounded especially delicious.

The verdict? The peanut butter cookies are my (and Mr Minx's) favorite of the two. They are crisp on the outside and a bit chewy at the center. The gingerbread cookies have a similar crisp/chewy texture, but the recipe has a tad too much molasses for my taste. Although I love gingerbread, sometimes this is an issue for me. I think my Dad will love them though.