Peanut Butter Spice Cookies

Our daughter and son-in-law live in Jacksonville, Florida. He sent me this recipe, which he found in a local food magazine. What caught his attention was that it calls for NO flour. Flourless chocolate cake I have made but, other than macaroons, I think these are the first cookies I have made with no flour. They are dense and the spice is quite subtle. Dr. Alvarez said these were his favorites, so far, after the ube cookies I made at his recommendation.

Source:

Adapted from http://ediblenortheastflorida.ediblefeast.com/

Ingredients:

1¼ cups white sugar
2¼ cups brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cloves
3½ cups peanut butter
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and clove. Set aside.

2. In a standing mixer, beat peanut butter and sugar mixture on low speed until just combined.

3. Combine eggs and vanilla. Mix into peanut butter mixture until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not over mix. If oils start to leak from the peanut butter, the cookies will not bake properly.

4. Using a 2-tablespoon scoop, form dough into balls. Flatten balls to ½-inch-thick and place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Freeze the cookies for at least 45 minutes before baking.* SEE NOTES

5. Bake at 325° for about 16–20 minutes, until golden brown but still slightly shiny in middle.** SEE NOTES

Notes:

* I baked them frozen and not frozen and I don’t understand why they said you need to freeze them. I thought they were good both ways.

** I baked them for at least 20 minutes, especially if they were frozen.