I’ve been away from my oven for the past two weekends, first traveling for work and then sidelined with a cold. Today, I simply needed to bake something.
My health coach recently asked me what I love about baking, and I told her that I love both the structure and creativity of it. You can look at a recipe and know, with some certainty, how it will turn out, but you also have the power to add or omit or change a few ingredients and come up with something entirely different. This recipe is a good example of that creativity, as it blends two classic cookies, the peanut butter cookie and the chocolate chip cookie, and makes them into something new and delicious.
Just a few notes about these treats: while they’re baking, you want to keep a close eye on them, because they over-bake very quickly. Check them around 10 minutes in the oven, then give them another minute or two, but make sure you pull them when they’re golden brown at the edges and still just slightly raw-looking in the centers. Don’t worry about under-baking them; they’ll continue to bake for a few minutes while they cool on the cookie sheets anyway, but you won’t be able to achieve the soft, chewy texture you’re after if you bake them too long.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 12-ounce bag milk chocolate chips
- About 1/4 cup sugar, for pressing onto tops of cookies before baking
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line several baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine flour and baking soda; set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together white sugar, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, and vanilla, scraping sides of the bowl frequently.
Add egg and beat well.
Add flour mixture in two batches, mixing until well-combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Butter the bottom of a glass and dip it into sugar, then press onto each scoop of dough to flatten. You’ll need to dip the glass into the sugar before flattening each scoop of dough.
Bake for 10 minutes and check progress; cookies are done when their edges are golden brown but the centers appear just slightly raw. Average baking time is 12-14 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove cookies from oven and cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 