Any visitors to my kitchen know to find their way to my grandmother’s green biscuit tin which I lovingly hand-carried from England decades ago. They know they can always count on finding some kind of homemade cookies lurking inside. Though I’ve got several dozen different kinds in my baking repertoire, one kind making a frequent appearance is peanut butter chocolate chip. For some reason—and I think I know what it may be—these are Felix’s professed favorites. The reason is, I suspect, that they are just so good! They have a rich, crumbly, buttery crumb that’s somehow reminiscent of shortbread, but with peanut butter and good chocolate chips nestled inside. They are a breeze to make and completely addictive. What’s not to like?
My friend Madge asked me how I got peanut butter into my chocolate chip cookies, and therein lies the secret—I didn’t! Instead, I put chocolate chips into my killer peanut butter cookies and have never looked back.
Give them a whirl yourself, and see if Felix is right.
Clare’s Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 cups smooth, preferably organic peanut butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl combine both sugars and butter and blend until creamy. Beat in eggs, peanut butter, salt and baking soda and mix well. Add the flour to the batter and mix only to combine. Add vanilla and chocolate chips and mix to combine.
Roll the dough into one and half inch balls. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press them flat with a fork forming a traditional peanut butter cookie crisscross on top of each one. Bake for about 12 minutes in the middle of the oven. Keep an eye on them and take them out as soon as they’re only just showing a little brown around the edges and cool them on a rack.
This recipe makes tons of cookies, but honestly, they’ll all get gobbled up—I promise.