Positively Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies

I actually didn’t like peanut butter when I was a kid, can you believe that?!?! Wow, I sure didn’t know what I was missing out on, but I think I have more than made up for it in terms of peanut butter consumption as an adult. One of my favorite delivery mechanisms for peanut butter is peanut butter cookies!  Over the years, I’ve tried various peanut butter cookie recipes and eventually created my own, which I think tastes extra peanutbuttery and has just the right ratio of crispy to chewy.

What you’ll need:  2 1/2 cups Flour (I use a combo of whole wheat and regular non-bleached white flour and  I really do think the combo helps, but isn’t absolutely necessary), 1 cup softened, but not melted butter (yes butter the real deal!), 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups of a really good creamy peanut butter, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Also, go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Start with the butter, the brown sugar, the white sugar and the peanut butter. Cream it together in a bowl until it is fluffy. Then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Okay, I know every recipe in the world says to combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then mix them into the wet ingredients. Call me a Rebel, or chastise me in the comments, but I NEVER do this.  I just don’t have the patience. So, go ahead and add your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt right into the peanut butter mixture, live on the wild side with me. Mix everything together with a spatula.

Here comes the fun part. Now, you actually get to play with your food. My kids LOVE this. You want to take small scoops of the dough and then roll in your palms to make little balls of dough. Then set on your cookie sheet, about 12 to a cookie sheet (four rows of three).

Take any old regular fork and apply pressure lightly in one direction and then the next, flattening the cookie ball and covering it with fork lines going top to bottom and then side to side.

Alrighty, go ahead and stick those cookies in your pre-heated oven and bake for ten minutes. Keep an eye on them, bc this is one cookie you don’t want to overcook or it’s going to get too dry.

Take them out of the oven promptly and cool for a just a minute or two on the tray and them remove to a wire cooling rack if you want to. I just find if you try to pull them off too fast, they might break. Enjoy them warm with a big glass of milk OR if you want to take it to another level, check out our Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Recipe:

Pre-heat Oven to 375 degrees.

2 1/2 cups Flour (I use a combo of whole wheat and regular non-bleached white flour and I really do think the combo helps, but isn’t absolutely necessary)

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups of a high quality creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Cream together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars using a regular blender on medium speed. Once the mixture is fluffy, mix in one egg at a time.  Next add in all your dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and mix together using a spatula. Roll the dough into balls (about one inch in size) and place on a cookie sheet. Use a fork to flatten the balls and to leave that criss cross pattern peanut butter cookies are  known for – one set of lines top to bottom and the other side to side. Place the cookies in the over for 10 minutes. DO NOT overcook or they will be dry.  Remove from the oven and let cool on the trays for a minute or two and then remove to a wire cooking rack.  Recipe makes approx 4 dozen cookies.