Found Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup Pie at Serious Eats

I saw the photo of this Peanut Butter Cup Pie on Serious Eats and, as a big fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, I had to taste it. I pestered my mom until she made if for me for Thanksgiving. The crust didn’t turn out as she would have liked — it was perhaps too finely ground and fell apart on serving — but the pie itself tasted exactly like a gourmet peanut butter cup! So it fulfilled all my expectations. Next time, my mom plans to purchase a chocolate cookie crust to use, and I can’t see anything wrong with that.

Giving Up Bread for a While, plus Super-Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

I realize it’s been a long time since I last posted. As I said in my last post, lately I’ve been more improvisational in the kitchen, letting recipes inspire me rather than following them religiously. While I’ve been inspired in the kitchen, I haven’t been similarly inspired to post, mainly because I’m afraid I’ll become repetitive. Frittata is a good dish to eat week after week — to take one example — but perhaps not to read about.

Here’s something new I’m trying: not eating processed foods made with flour. That means no bread, pasta, crackers, pretzels or baked goods. I’ve also cut way back on dairy and refined sugar, although I haven’t given those up entirely. No more cream in my coffee, for example, but I’ll still have my morning yogurt with granola and berries. There are few ills that a bowl of really good yogurt can’t cure, or so I believe.

Why am I doing this? I’m hoping it will have a positive effect on my health, particularly my recurring insomnia and lack of energy. By cutting out bread-type foods, I am opening up space for more whole foods: more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. (I am not going gluten-free, though, nor am I being a fanatic about this; the idea is to reduce my consumption, not drive myself crazy.)

I’ve been at this for a week and so far, I can’t really report much difference. My sleep this week was normal, which means not great. I don’t feel like I’ve lost any weight, although ever since the batteries in my bathroom scale went dead, I’ve been a lot happier on that score. However, I will stick it out at least a month, because I don’t think I can expect any real results in less time than that.

I discovered a new recipe for super-simple peanut butter cookies this week that don’t require any flour or dairy. (They do have sugar, though.) And they are very toddler-friendly; my kid would probably live off these if he could. Here’s the recipe, which is simple enough to memorize.

Combine 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar (I think you could cut the sugar down to even ½ cup, if you wanted), and 1 egg in a bowl. Mix well (I used an electric mixer). Drop by tablespoonfuls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, until golden-brown. You do need to let these cool quite a lot. They get more cookie-like as they cool.

They are surprisingly good. Think of them as tiny energy bombs. Just one will keep you going on a dull afternoon.