Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's chilly outside. You want to hang out near a warm oven. You need your chocolate fix. You need your salty peanut butter fix. You love tender, chewy cookies with crispy edges. If these statements apply to you, then you've come to the right place for THE BEST peanut butter chocolate chip cookies you can make from scratch. And the best part - they're so easy! This recipe is practically idiot proof because the texture is so perfect. I like to serve them still warm out of the oven for a maximum melt-in-your-mouth eye-rolling pleasure. I promise if you make these you will love them! Just be sure to toss a stick of butter onto the counter to soften a couple of hours before you want to bake.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature butter
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350F or 176C. Mix the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt - in a small bowl and set aside.

In a larger bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter together with an electric hand mixer until blended. Add the white and brown sugar and blend together. Next, beat in your egg, milk and vanilla on low speed (no splashing!). Gradually beat in the flour mixture a little at a time; I do it in thirds. And now the most important part: chocolate chips! I like to use milk chocolate or semi-sweet chips, but bit tersweet works too. Just make sure it's some kind of sweet, because if you use unsweetened bakers chocolate then everyone will hate you.

Mix your chocolate chips into the dough using a wooden spoon. The mixture should come away from the sides of the bowl. If you like, transfer the mixture to some plastic wrap, then form a ball or tube shape that can be easily sliced later, and refrigerate for one half hour.

To bake, roll pieces of dough into ping-pong-sized balls, then place them 2 inches apart from each other on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use your fingers to lightly press down the dough balls. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Cookies should look pale and like they need a few more minutes of baking, but they don't! I swear! The edges and bottoms of the cookies will be a perfect golden brown and the texture will be chewy, melty, slightly cripsy and yummy to the max. Yes, I just said to the max, because I like to pretend that it's the 80s and I live in the movie Valley Girl. Finally, as with all warm cookies fresh from the oven, wash 'em down with a big glass of cold milk. Enjoy, fellow kitchen nerds!