When I started to think about what the first recipe I wanted to share with the world(or more likely all five of you that read this) was, I knew it had to be a cookie, because of course. And when I started to think about *the* cookie, I instantly thought of this recipe. Is it my favorite cookie in the whole entire world? Probably not. But this is one of the first cookies that I can remember making on my own, and it’s probably the recipe I’ve made more than most other cookies. I can’t take much credit for this cookie, though.

The first time I ever had this cookie was at Brooke’s house. I’ve known Brooke since we were younger than I can remember. She stood next to me as I married my best friend six years ago and I can’t wait to watch her marry hers next May. Brooke’s mom, Tanya, has whipped up many a sweet treat over the years, all of it delicious. This cookie is just one of the sweets I enjoyed at their house. I’m fairly confident that you could always find some of this cookie dough in the freezer, because you never know when you’re going to need a hot-out-of-the-oven cookie or let’s be honest, some cookie dough in all its raw goodness. Growing up, I burned my mouth on plenty of these cookies in the McLeod house, we just couldn’t wait. So, thanks, Tanya, for baking cookies for us, for french braiding my hair every time I slept over(my head hurts just thinking of how tight you pulled those braids), and for starting me on the road to this little blog.

A couple little disclaimers before we jump into the real reason you’re reading this…to get the recipe for these yummy cookies! I don’t know about you, but when I’m trying out a recipe for the first time, I want it to turn out well. If I can get super detailed and specific instructions, I’m thrilled. I want to be told what tools to use, how things should look, smell, feel, taste, etc. As I pass along recipes to you, I hope and plan to give as much information as I would hope to find in a recipe myself. Also, I don’t know how you usually measure your dry ingredients(flour & sugar), but after hearing & reading about weighing them instead of the scoop & level method, I’m a firm believer in the weigh method. In a nutshell, the way that you measure out flour can result in varying amounts of it, ranging by an ounce or more in either direction. To keep things as controlled as possible, when you weigh, you always know how much flour you have. Unfortunately there are also different opinions of how much a cup of flour weighs. Unless a recipe tells me how many ounces or grams it requires, I use the standards from America’s Test Kitchen of 5 ounces for a cup of unbleached all purpose flour and 7 ounces for a cup of sugar(brown or white). I use this scale, although there are lots of options. Just be sure it has the option of grams or ounces.

Now, let’s get to the good stuff.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 cup Softened Butter (I always use salted)
1 cup Peanut Butter (I grew up using creamy Jif, Skippy, etc, but now the only peanut butter in our house is the kind that’s made with only peanuts, and it’s crunchy. The cookies were just as delicious, and with a tad less sugar)
¾ cup Sugar (5.25 ounces)
¾ cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar (5.25 ounces)
2 Eggs (room temperature is best, helps them incorporate better. I try to at least get them out of the fridge as soon as I start making cookies, so they can warm up a bit)
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2½ cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (12.5 ounces)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (This amount is definitely up for interpretation if you love a loaded cookie)

• Preheat your oven to 350º (I always, always, always have a thermometer like this in my oven because it can’t be trusted. When I set it to 350, it ends up around 375.)
• Prep some cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. I always use parchment paper and I needed 4 trays for this batch of cookies.
• Measure or weigh out your flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk them together and set aside.
• Add both sugars and both butters to the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl.
• Cream together the butters & sugars on medium speed for 1 minute.
• Turn the mixer to low and add in the vanilla and 1 egg. Once incorporated, add the other egg and mix just until combined or you don’t see any super shiny streaks of egg left.
• Turn the mixer off and add in about a third of the flour mixture, turn the mixer on low, just until mostly combined.
• Add the rest of the flour in two more batches, just the same way.
• With the mixer off, again, add in your chocolate chips and mix on low until evenly disbursed.

• In order to get uniform cookies, use a cookie scoop to portion out dough onto the trays. I use a scoop like this, which got me 52 cookies that weighed 1 ounce each. I want to make sure my cookies have plenty of space to bake evenly, which means 12 cookies per tray.

• Bake for about 8 minutes, 2 trays at a time, or until just barely starting to brown on the edges, which yields a soft cookie. Again, interpretation is up to you on how well-done you like your cookies. I’m always an advocate of under-cooked cookies.

• Allow cookies to cool on the trays for a few minutes, and then move to cooling racks until completely cool.

One other option with these cookies is to scoop out the dough as individual cookies on the tray, then throw the tray in the freezer until the cookies are frozen. Once they’re frozen, you can put them in an airtight ziploc bag and back in the freezer. Bake them just the same way, adding only an extra minute or two. Perfect for those moments when you just HAVE to have a fresh out of the oven cookie.

love and butter,

amy