Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies were a huge hit in our house. They seem to have the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Peanut butter cookies are dense and do not cook evenly, which is the original reason for pressing the tines of a fork into each one. With the addition of the chocolate chips, it is not necessary to do so.




1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter (2 Smart Balance sticks)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips



Using the paddle attachment of your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, beating after each addition.



Add vanilla and peanut butter...



and beat just until combined.



Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and add just half of that to the cookie mixture. Mix for 30 seconds on a medium low speed, then add the rest of the flour and mix until incorporated.



At this point you can refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, a few hours, or even overnight, but it is not absolutely necessary. Refrigerating cookie dough gives you a chewier cookie texture, but these cookies are great either way.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them. I use a rounded scoop of a soup spoon for cookies and am not at all concerned with uniform shape. Use a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop if you like every cookie to look alike. It's important to use basically the same amount so that they will cook evenly, but I like the uneven shape of homemade cookies.



Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top.



Let them set on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool...if you can leave them alone that long! They are amazing while still warm from the oven. I stored the very few leftover cookies in a plastic bag in the fridge overnight. I don't know what happened to them after that...they had mysteriously disappeared by the time I got up the next morning.