There's something so special about peanut butter cookies that transports me straight back to my childhood. When I was younger, I was obsessed with the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie children's books. One day, I came home from school with a Scholastic Book Fair catalog and order form — my fellow 90's kids will definitely remember the joy of receiving one of those in class. In that particular catalog was Mouse Cookies, a children's cookbook based off of the popular series. Given my obsession, my 4-year-old self just had to have it.
The Mouse Cookies cookbook was my first exposure to from-scratch baking; therefore, it's probably the root of my passion for baking that has lasted from my childhood to my current 19-year-old existence. I've never thought much about the origins of my sugar obsession before this, but that's most definitely it. The one recipe I remember continually baking from the cookbook was one for traditional peanut butter cookies.
Since reading Christina Tosi's Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, I have been fascinated by cereal. I never ate cereal as a child, save for the few times that we had Golden Grahams or Oreo O's in the house. I have a deep aversion to milk, so I just never loved cereal like most kids. However, since I read Tosi's book, I have found myself obsessing of sugary cereal and other quintessential junk foods. Then the idea was born — mix peanut butter cookies with the most sugary cereal ever, Cap'n Crunch, to create the ultimate throwback to childhood.
Whenever I told anybody that I wanted to use Cap'n Crunch in my baking, they shuddered away pretty quickly. Yeah, sure, it sounds gross — but the result? ***Flawless.
The base of these cookies is your traditional peanut butter cookie. The level of peanut butter is perfectly balanced. Not too faint, but not too much either. When adding the dry ingredients to the wet, I added 1-1/2 cups of crushed Cap'n Crunch. The combination of peanut butter and Cap'n Crunch is a match made in heaven. They just work. The cookies are each topped with sprinkle of coarse sea salt to elevate the overall flavor.
To die for.
Cap'n Crunch Peanut Butter Cookies
- 7 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use natural peanut butter)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups Cap'n Crunch, slightly crushed
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the peanut butter. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add in all of the dry ingredients and combine.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Add a sprinkle of sea salt on top of each cookie. Don't leave that out! Cool and enjoy.