Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to say I have never really been a fan of peanut butter.  I hated how it stuck to the roof of my mouth, how it was too gritty, too chunky, or just plan something I just wasn't ever in the mood for. I never craved peanut butter anything.   I didn't even really enjoy Reese's peanut butter cups - I just felt that there were better candy / dessert options out there.  Well, you know how people's tastes change every so often? Mine has - big time.  I now literally cannot get enough peanut butter!  I think I may even have had a dream about peanut butter the other day.

I got a new Kitchen Aid mixer for a wedding present and so I decided to whip up a batch of cookies (peanut butter, of course).  I couldn't just do plain peanut butter - I had to add chocolate chips :)

OK so on to the cookies! Here are the cast of characters:  (I'll post the full recipe below)

Basic cookie ingredients - nothing too fancy - flour, sugar, vanilla, butter, an egg, salt, brown sugar, baking soda, oh, and peanut butter.  I use natural peanut butter because I don't like the idea of hydrogenated oils in my cookies. There's something not quite right about it.  Anyway,  I found some of the natural peanut butters can get a bit gritty - so for these cookies  I used Skippy Natural, which is as creamy as the peanut butter with the hydrogenated oils (so tell me again why we need these silly trans fats??)

I have to say my Kitchenaid mixer is THE BOMB. I love how easy it all was!

Once they were all mixed up, I rolled them into balls and placed them on a cookie sheet.  Then take a fork and smoosh the cookie down till it's flat and has a nice criss cross pattern on it. 

Bake them and enjoy the aroma of cookies. There's nothing like the smell of fresh baked cookies!

Take them out of the oven and try to let them cool off a bit before you eat them.  I couldn't wait that long and burned the roof of my mouth. Some day I will learn about restraint. 

Serve with a big glass of cold milk !

Here's the recipe: 

Ingredients
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Kitchen Tools Needed:

Mixer (either a stand mixer or hand mixer) 

Cookie Sheet (s) 

Spatula

Wire racks for cooling 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Cream butter and peanut butter in mixing bowl. Beat until smooth - about 1 minute. 

Add sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla - beat until combined. 

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together, and gradually add into the wet mixture. Mix until well combined. 

Add in chocolate chips and stir gently. 

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, or a sheet lined with parchment paper.  Press flat with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. 

Bake until golden brown - 10-12 minutes.  Be careful not to over cook, these can get a bit dry.. 

Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. 

Variations 

• Skip the chocolate chips
• Add butterscotch chips
• Add peanut butter chips 
• Combine peanut butter and chocolate chips together
• Add in some chopped nuts 

The options are pretty much endless :)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps - pretty AND delicious

I went to a cookie exchange party in December and made these. They came out so pretty and everyone really loved them. They almost taste like a cookie/brownie. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website and wanted to share with you all. They are really, really good.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons instant espresso
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon milk
Confectioners' sugar, for coating, about 1/2 cup to maybe 3/4 cup.

Directions
First step, be sure to melt the chocolate so it has time to cool.

Next, In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt.

Then cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy (use an electric mixer). Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. The dough is going to be tough.. but it will all mix together!
Lay out some plastic wrap and plop the dough on it. Flatten it into a disk and then wrap in plastic.
Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. (Your hands WILL get dirty. Embrace it.).
Pour confectioners' sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.

Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Try not to eat them all at once :)

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The recipe indicated that it made 18 cookies. I must've made them a bit smaller because I got about 28 cookies out of each recipe.