If there was ever a perfect match made in heaven, it's chocolate and peanut butter. And this cookie recipe is one of the easiest, yummiest ways I've found to combine these two favorite flavors.
You may have noticed that I called this recipe "chocolate peanut butter peanut butter chip cookies." Nope, it wasn't a typo! The reason I decided to put peanut butter in the name twice is that not only are peanut butter chips in the cookies, but there's peanut butter in the cookie dough as well! Double the peanut butter, double the fun. :)
The texture of these cookies is soft and chewy, which is, in my opinion, the best possible texture of a cookie. Every now and then I do enjoy a little crunch to my cookies, but if I could only choose one cookie texture to eat for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be soft and chewy. And these cookies fit that bill.
And they are also so easy to put together! They do require the use of an electric mixer, but I had the ingredients whipped up in just 10 minutes (minus the time it took for the butter to soften, of course ;)). But you know what method I've found works great if you do need to soften butter quickly? If you don't have time to plan ahead and leave your butter out to soften (or, you simply forget to do it ahead of time - I've definitely been guilty of that!), try microwaving it on low power (or on defrost). For one stick of butter, on low power, you can have your butter softened (and not anywhere near melted, which we don't want) in 10 seconds. So easy!
The recipe for these wonderful cookies is based on a recipe from King Arthur Flour. And when I made these cookies, it was my first time ever using Dutch-process cocoa powder! I've never used it before. In the past, I've just never bought it, so I've avoided using recipes that call for it. But, recently, on a trip that my mom and sister made to King Arthur Flour in Vermont, they nicely picked up some Dutch-process cocoa powder for me, so now I don't have any excuses to skip over recipes that call for it!
Ingredients:
-1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp. baking soda
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
-1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 large egg
-2 Tbsp. water
-1 and 1/2 cups peanut butter chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, beat together both sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and water; then stir in the dry ingredients, blending well. Stir in the peanut butter chips.
Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. If desired, flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass until the cookie is 1/2-inch thick. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are set and you can smell the chocolate. Remove from oven, let sit on cookie sheets for a couple minutes, and then cool completely on a cooling rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
The original recipe actually calls for mini peanut butter cups instead of peanut butter chips. I didn't have the peanut butter cups on hand, so I just substituted the chips. These would be awesome with the pb cups though!
If you read through the recipe, you may have noticed that it says to flatten the cookies a bit before baking. I actually forgot to do that with the first batch that went into the oven, but I did flatten the second batch. Both turned out great! The ones I flattened slightly were, of course, slightly flatter. If you make this recipe, I'd recommend trying whichever you prefer - slightly flatter cookies or slightly rounder cookies. Either way, the flavor and texture remains the same - wonderful!
The amount of peanut butter chips in this recipe was perfect, I thought. Not too many and not too few. This recipe has a perfect dough to chip ratio. :)
You are going to loooove these cookies.
:)
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