Peanut Butter Cookies #3

These are sugar-free peanut butter cookies, built for diabetic-friendly or low-sugar baking. Granulated sugar replacement subs in for the usual creamed sugar, and the rest of the cookie follows a classic PB formula with a handful of tweaks to compensate for the lost structure that sugar normally provides.

The chill step is not optional here. A full two hours (overnight is better) gives the dough time to firm up enough to handle. Sugar-replacement doughs are stickier than their full-sugar cousins, and warm dough will smear rather than hold its domed shape on the sheet. The traditional flourdusted glass press gives you the flat, slightly cracked surface that is the signature of this cookie shape.

Kitchen Tips

• Use a creamy, no-stir peanut butter for consistent results. Natural peanut butter with separated oil will throw off the hydration and give you either greasy or dry cookies depending on how well you stirred.
• Chill the dough the full two hours minimum. Skipping this is the single fastest way to ruin sugar-free cookies. They will spread flat into greasy puddles.
• Dip the glass in flour before each press, not just the first one. Peanut butter dough sticks aggressively once the flour is gone.
• Check at 12 minutes. Sugar-replacement cookies brown faster than sugar cookies, and going past 12 minutes risks dry, crumbly edges.

Variations

• Swap the sugar replacement for ½ cup real sugar for a regular-sweet version.
• Press a sugar-free chocolate kiss into each hot cookie for a sugar-free blossom.
• Add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder to the dry ingredients for a chocolate peanut butter twist.