I’m baking Peanut Butter Cookies today. I wanted my daughter to read The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (the first book of A Series of Unfortunate Events). But I had to bribe her to try it—she’d already seen the movie, and felt that was good enough. Take note: if you want your kids to read a really good book, don’t let them watch the movie first. So today I bribed her by making peanut butter cookies, and now she’s trying the book.

I have two variations—the regular recipe, and one extremely healthy, high-protein, no-sugar recipe. I used to use that one when my kids were very young. It doesn’t taste the same as the regular ones, and it has more of a cake-like consistency. But it’s great if you’re on a no or low-sugar diet, or want a healthy protein snack.

Btw, I consistently decrease the amount of sugar in all my recipes, and have found it tastes just as good and sweet. So you’ll see a variation in the amount of sugar called for—you can choose to use the lesser amount, or stick with the traditional amount.

Regular Peanut Butter Press Cookies

• 1/2 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/3-1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup flour (all-purpose, whole-grain, or a combination of the two)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream first four ingredients; beat in egg. Stir together the flour, baking soda, and a dash of salt; add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Chill ten minutes. Preheat the oven to 400º. When the oven is ready, drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet & press with a fork dipped in flour. Bake at 400º for about 8 minutes (keep remaining batter chilled in the refrigerator while cookies are baking). Makes 2 dozen.

High-Protein No-Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

• 3/4 cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 Tablespoon soy flour (instead of the egg)
• 3/4 cup whole grain flour (or mixed with all-purpose)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 scoop (1/3 cup) protein powder (optional)
• 1/2 cup or so of uncooked rolled oats

Follow the same directions for regular peanut butter cookies, above, except mix just the first 3 ingredients together, then add all the powder ingredients mixed together.