Peanut Butter Dino Cookies

For last nights Young Single Adult activity (I'm an advisor, not a member!!!) we watched Jurassic Park.  I was in charge of the snacks so after browsing Pinterest, here is what I made.

  Earlier I made a dino footprint press out of polymer clay.  While polymer clay is not considered food safe (to eat off of) it is not because it is toxic.  In fact eating it causes no harmful effects.  Why one would eat it I can't figure out but that is beside the point.  The reason you can't use it to make food safe dishes is because polymer clay is porous so it can not be cleaned sufficiently to prevent icky stuff from growing on the clay.  But since I would be tossing the press (easy to make a new one if I ever needed one) after this project, there was no risk .   I could have used a toy dino to make the impressions but I couldn't find one just the right size.  You will see the press further down in the post.  Now on to the cookies.  I just used a basic peanut butter cookie recipe that I added a bit more flour to.  I wanted the footprint to really show up so I needed a drier dough, and the extra flour didn't make the cookies too dry once baked.

 After using an ice cream scoop to get a nice size mound, I sprayed the bottom of a pint jar with Pam.  I then dipped it in sugar and pressed down on the dough til it was the right size.  I only had to use the Pam the first squish, after that I just dipped the jar in sugar before every press.

The edges were real rough which looked great for the dino theme.  I then baked the cookies.  While they baked I prepared my foot print press.

Just like the jar, I sprayed the foot with Pam and then dipped it in sugar.  Notice the handle I added to the foot for ease in using.  I made the press out of leftover clay from other projects.

You want a good coating of sugar.

Once the cookies are baked, immediately, like the second you take them out of the oven, press the foot into the surface of the cookies.  I tried marking them before baking like you traditionally do with a fork but the impression isn't as sharp as if you do it after baking.  These cookies were a big hit with the group!  Hummm, you might want to try different shapes, the possibilities are limitless!

Diana