Peanut Butter Cookie Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches

I'm not sure which came into my head first, the peanut butter cookies or the chocolate ice cream. But the two ideas met there and became this dessert I made for Pritchard Parker.  I took the sandwiches a step further by rolling the edges in chopped, toasted peanuts.

One of my favorite peanut butter cookie recipes is from the blog, Simply Recipes. Elise's blog was the first food blog I ever encountered. In fact Elise's blog first introduced me to the concept of blogging.  That was several years ago, and I still visit her blog often. She has hundreds of recipes, very well organized with a fantastic index, and every one I have tried was delicious. I like her blog because it doesn't overwhelm with photographs or gimmicks.   I sound like a paid sponsor, but trust me, Elise doesn't know me from Adam's house cat. 

This recipe calls for half granulated sugar and half brown sugar, which is what I always use. I discovered I was out of brown sugar and I'm not sure how that happened. I'm usually careful to keep my pantry supplies replenished. But while I was digging around, I rediscovered a box of turbinado sugar and decided to use it.  The cookies turned out great! We loved the texture of them and I'm already planning to bake another batch.

Peanut Butter Cookies

(adapted from Simply Recipes)

1 cup turbinado sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cream for 2 more minutes.  Mix in the peanut butter and egg.  Mix together the dry ingredients; stir into the peanut butter mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Shape dough intoo 1 1/4 inch balls.  Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork.  Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes.  Cool on baking sheets for a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.