Peanut Butter Cookies

I have my tried and true big fat chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe when I need to whip up a batch for friends, but as good as it is, I was getting a little bored of making it all the time. So, what's a natural complement to chocolate? Peanut butter.

So when the time came to make a batch for someone as a favor, I decided to do some research on peanut butter cookie recipes. The below is an adaptation from this recipe - as the recipe described, the original was indeed quite soft. But, I felt, it needed just a little more chewiness and oomph to it ... in short, it needed to be just like the big fat chewy chocolate chip cookie, except peanut-butter flavored. This was only further supported when I left some of the PB cookies out for a week and my brother said they were getting better as they hardened a bit on the outside. Thus, I threw in a little bit of this and that and came up with the below recipe.

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup butter softened
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper, if desired.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat together until smooth & creamy best if using a stand mixer or hand mixer.
   
3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined.
   
4. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.
   
5. Using a cookie dough scooper or making the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in white granulated sugar if you desire and place on to baking sheet. 
   
6. Using a fork, press down on each ball of dough to slightly flatten and creating a criss-cross pattern.
   
7. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
   
8. These keep well for a couple of days in an airtight container.