Last week I got the urge to make cookies. For some people this may be an everyday occurrence, but I actually can’t remember the last time I made a batch of cookies. Not because I don’t like cookies, but I keep busy baking plenty of other things. Christmas is the perfect excuse to bake treats, though, so I made a batch of these divine peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
If you’re a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, you owe it to yourself to try this recipe.
Once I got the urge to bake cookies, I actually wasn’t sure what kind I wanted to make, so I dove into an old binder of recipes I have sitting around. I figured I’d dig out a family recipe, for the sake of tradition. And because my mom always made tons of baked goods around the holidays, there are some delicious family desserts buried in that binder. But in the end I settled on a recipe that I printed out from the internet years and years ago, because at the top I had written the note, “Best cookies ever!”
With that endorsement, even though I didn’t remember what they were like, and there was no picture, I figured I had to give them another try. With a few tweaks, they really are contenders for the best cookies ever.
Bonus: the recipe for these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies is really simple, and uses pretty basic ingredients you might already have in your pantry.
Do you have any recipes for special treats you only make around the holidays? Are they family heirloom recipes, or from cookbooks or blogs?
Salted Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup natural salted creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
Flaked sea salt (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Mix in the peanut butter, vanilla, and egg until well-combined.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into the batter until just combined, then stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips.
(At this point if you like you can cover and refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours. You’ll just probably end up needing to bake an extra 1-3 minutes.)
Scoop large spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle each dough ball with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies start to brown on the top and edges. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes approximately 2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
