Peanut butter cookies

Who knew they were so easy to make? With rampant peanut allergies in Canada, I would never even think of bringing peanut butter cookies to school/work, much less suggest making them in school!I don't know if it's just Towada or Japan in general, but I have yet to meet a Japanese person with a peanut allergy.

So anyway, I was scheduled to help out today with English club at one of my favourite elementary schools, Sanbongi ES. Since I was at the school on Monday, I had a chance to talk with the teacher in charge, Kawaguchi-sensei about the club activities. She was planning on doing a cooking class and wanted to know easy "Canadian" (/American) snack recipes.

Off the top of my head I could only think of "ants on a log," s'mores, and shakes. Since the club members are all female, Kawaguchi-sensei vetoed the "ants on a log" but went for the s'mores and shakes. I told her I'd let her know if I thought of anything else.

On Tuesday, inspiration struck: peanut butter cookies!! I'd never made them before, but I remembered seeing the recipe on Kraft Peanut Butter jars and thinking how ridiculously easy they sounded.

Well, I looked up the recipe online at Kraft Canada and discovered that it really is super easy:

"Super-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies"

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (~260g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
1 egg (you can also use just the egg white, if you prefer)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Mix all ingredients until well blended.
2. Roll into ~24 balls and place on baking sheets. Flatten with fork.
3. Bake for ~20min. or until lightly browned. Cool 5min. on baking sheet before transferring to wire rack.

At the same time I found a recipe for peanut butter quares:

"3-Step Peanut Butter Squares"

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (~260g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
1 egg (you can also use just the egg white, if you prefer)
~56g (2oz.) chopped chocolate


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Mix all ingredients until well blended.
2. Spread into 20cm (8-inch) square baking pan; sprinkle with chocolate.
3. Bake 20min. Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.

I sent both recipes to Kawaguchi-sensei and she said we would use the recipe, but I wasn't sure which one she meant. Since, as I said, I've never actually made peanut butter cookies before, I decided to do a test bake on Wednesday night (i.e. the day before we'd be making it at the school).

I made the squares first, but unfortunately I didn't bake it quite long enough/didn't allow it to cool completely before cutting, so it ended up a somewhat crumbly mess. Edible, but only half of the squares actually retained a square-like shape. ^^;;

Thankfully the cookies were pretty much fool-proof. I was a bit worried because I only found 240g jars of peanut butter at the Jusco, so I reduced the amount of sugar a bit as well to compensate (I didn't bother trying to do a fraction of an egg--although I did try out using just the egg white as Bryan suggested), but they turned out fine. Well, I did overcook the last batch slightly because I had stopped paying careful attention by that point, but they weren't burnt or anything.

I brought the cookies to the office today and gave them out to the hard-workers--i.e. the people who were there after 5:30pm, which is when I went in!  The squares were too ugly for me to give away, so I kept them for self-consumption. (And ended up eating all of the messed up/crumbled pieces after dinner tonight. @_@;;)

Anyway, I was glad that I had practiced making the cookies the day before because I was in charge of the cookie group at the English club while Kawaguchi-sensei took care of the shakes and another teacher helped with the s'mores. Usually when I bake I'm very careful about measuring properly and sticking to the recipe, but having experienced the...flexibility...of the recipe, I was totally fine with eyeballing the peanut butter amount (Kawaguchi-sensei had purchased a 340g jar). I did bring my own measuring cup for the sugar, though, so we didn't have to guess with that.

Unfortunately we weren't able to finish the cookies in time for the students to eat them with the shakes and s'mores, but they were done in time for the students to take them home as they were leaving, so it worked out OK. 
So yeah, if you ever get asked to come up with a recipe for (North) American food for elementary kids, I recommend peanut butter cookies! Not only are they tasty, but everyone is always surprised that it's a cookie recipe with only three ingredients, and no flour!

S'mores are also easy and fun. Plus there's a bit more "culture"you can explain: 1) they're usually camping snacks; and 2) the name comes from "some more". If you've never made s'mores at home, again, the recipe is simple:

S'mores

Ingredients:
graham crackers
marshmallows
chocolate (squares or chocolate chips)

Directions:
1. Place graham crackers on a microwaveable plate.
2. Top crackers with marshmallows and microwave on high for ~30s. (Be careful to avoid burning the marshallows!)
3. Remove from microwave and put chocolate on top of the marshmallows. Top with another graham cracker and enjoy while hot!

And here's a basic shake recipe:

Fruit Shakes

Ingredients:
banana(s) and/or strawberries and/or other fruits
milk/yogurt
ice

Directions:
1. Add ingredients to taste and blend in blender. Serve & enjoy!