Monday, January 31, 2011

Peanut Butter Clouds

You might not think there would be much to learn at a cooking class about cookies, but that really depends on who’s teaching the class. I signed up for a cookie class at Central Market Cooking School last December that was taught by Alice Medrich, and I walked away with a few pages of notes. She was demonstrating cookies from her new book Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies which combines some of her all-time, favorite recipes with updates for what everyone likes to cook today. I shared some photos from the class on my Facebook page as well. Throughout the class, little, eye-opening details, the kinds of things that don’t always get mentioned, were pointed out and explained. She talked about how a home cook needs to decode a recipe. When a cookie recipe states to whip or cream something “just until,” it’s important to pay close attention and not overdo it. There are times when the butter and sugar should not be creamed to a point where it’s too light and fluffy as that can add too much air to the dough. She continued to talk as she worked, and turned a square baking pan upside down, cut a piece of foil, and wrapped it over the bottom of the pan. Then, she flipped the pan over and placed the foil inside it. I’d never thought of doing that to get the foil to the right size and shape to line the inside of a pan for brownies. Then, she spoke of flavors and adding different spices to brownies or chocolate cookies. Rather than mixing the spice into the batter or dough, it can be sprinkled on top after baking. That way, you have a different flavor experience. You smell the spice as soon as you lift the item toward your mouth, and it’s more pronounced. Also, then you can flavor one batch several different ways. So, the evening progressed with several different cookie recipes being prepped and then tasted. Every cookie we were served was fantastic, but the one I couldn’t stop thinking about over a month later was the peanut butter cloud.

This is in Medrich’s new book, and it’s a simple meringue cookie with a swirl of peanut butter running through it. Ordinarily, a meringue serves as a vehicle for other flavors, but here, the added peanut butter was mixed into the sweet, crisp, light as air cookie and chopped salted peanuts were sprinkled on for added crunch. Egg whites were whisked in a mixer with cream of tartar and eventually, sugar was added. During the class, Medrich pointed out that if you add the sugar too early while whisking the egg whites, you’ll get a glossy but limp meringue. For firmer meringue, add the sugar, after the whites have become opaque, very slowly over a two minute period. Then, dot the top of the meringue with well-stirred, natural peanut butter, and just barely fold it into the egg whites. The peanut butter should be streaked throughout the meringue. I piped the meringue into small cookie-cloud shapes onto baking sheets and topped them with the chopped nuts. The cookies baked at 200 degrees F for one and a half hours, and then they remained in the oven after it was turned off until they were cool.

The crackly texture and the sweetness of the meringue mixed with peanut butter and salted chopped peanuts just worked so well together. Thankfully, my home-baked versions stood up to my memory of them from the class. And, now I need to finish reading through the book to get several new ideas for what to bake next.



29 comments:

  1. Lisa, these look absolutely delicious! WOW...can't wait to try them. They're gorgeous and so unique - thanks for sharing!

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  2. Super cute and dainty. A little cloud of deliciousness!

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  3. Wow...these look fantastic. I need to get that book; so great you were there for that class! I wonder if she was at our Central Market?! Cheers from Houston!

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  4. Those look marvelous!! Would love to have some with my cup of coffee now!

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  5. So soft and beautiful peanut butter clouds.. Adorable treats :) I guess they are just melting in the mouth :)

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  6. I love anything with peanut butter but these look especially delicious

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  7. I am a sucker for peanut anything! These look wonderful, I'd love to get my hands on them :D
    *kisses* HH

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  8. You took a class with Alice Medrich! How super cool! Yeah, she would be awesome to learn about cookies from. And these clouds? I'm in heaven just LOOKING at them!

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  9. It sounds like a great class! The cookies look so amazing... I am a sucker for anything with peanut butter :)

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  10. Great tip about when/how to add sugar to meringues. I've learned this the hard way, with many ruined batches of unfluffy meringues. Love the idea swirling PB into meringues and making "clouds." Beautiful!

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  11. Lucky you...an class with Alice Medrich! I'm jealous.
    These look marvelous, Lisa. I've not had very good luck with meringue type cookies in Florida...they just don't hold up for long. Perfect if you can eat them immediately.

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  12. this cookies sounds so delicious... PB in a meringue is definately my kinda cookie:)

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  13. Lisa, these peanut butter clouds sure look like yummie clouds...I can only imagine how nice they taste...love it!

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  14. Yours are as beautiful as Alice's! This was my favorite cookie from the class. I had forgotten (not a good note taker) her tip on sprinkling spices on top rather than mixing in. Thanks for the reminder.

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  15. Peanut Butter in Meringue has be so intrigued, it really would be chewy yummy wouldn't it. Love it.

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  16. Those look melt in your mouth fantastic!! Have you taken a lot of CM cooking classes? How do you like them?

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  17. Sara: I have taken several CM classes and always really enjoy them and learn a lot.

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  18. Those look so pretty and light. Delicate but probably packed with flavor. Kudos! I'd call that class a success!

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  19. Lisa, these look and sound heavenly! I just used a salted peanut dacquoise in my entremet, but I wish I had even a 'nano thought' of swirling peanut butter through it! I'm going to have to get that book - I just realized, I don't own one cookbook dedicated to cookies only, weird!

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  20. Lisa, those cookies are to die for! The combination of creamy peanut butter and meringue is just sensational!

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  21. typically, meringue-y cookies are useless to me, but i like the idea of crunchy peanuts and rich peanut butter bursting through. nice pick!

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  22. Your PB clouds look amazing, fantastic & apart too, Lisa! Waw!


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  23. I would have loved to attend this class; the tip on the foil, I learned from Julia Child. I love the idea for these cookies because to me meringues are too too sweet; the peanuts cut the sweetness, which is ideal.

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  24. How can you resist anything with a name like peanut butter cloud? It just sounds so heavenly. I have this book, too, and cannot wait to start baking cookies from it.

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  25. I have to pass this one on to a pb crazed friend!

    I wish we had places here that teach cooking classes, yeah I can teach, but its fun to go and get others perspectives right? Yeah!

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  26. I learned to make this recipe from my mom as a kid. It was my dad's favorite cookie and I was making big batches of them for him as a pre-teen. Thanks for this great memory...I was just missing my dad last night and this warms my heart! I will have to make these soon.

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