Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here’s another treat to get you through the winter months. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! We had a big snow fall last week, 8-10 inches of snow (with a layer of ice sandwiched in-between) which is a big deal around here. The city practically shut down. Businesses closed. They don’t plow most streets because it’s… sort of rare, but not that rare! And they don’t use salt on the roads because it’s bad for the roads and the environment and will end up costing more money in the end with repair work. So you have to drive with chains on your tires or plan to walk to places, hunker down and light a fire. And maybe make some cookies if you have power. And we did! I couldn’t believe it. Huge snow/ice storm and we didn’t lose power. 

I was almost going to make the Peanut butter and Chocolate Blondies again, but they are so rich. Amazing as they are I really just wanted something a tad lighter. And these are just that. A little less butter, and a little less peanut butter. And also cookies, so rather than baked all at once in one pan, you can do as I did and bake small batches at a time. The dough stays fine in the fridge for a week and you can have fresh baked cookies in just a matter of minutes. Bake 6-12 cookies at a time. Whatever you want. Easy. You can freeze the dough as well if you want to take a break from cookie baking/eating. Since it’s just the two of us I find it makes more sense to do these small batch desserts. Some things freeze well post-baked and taste good defrosted, like cakes, but cookies? I think fresh baked is best.

The original recipe was named “Chewy” Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, which mine were not, maybe because I used honey rather than corn syrup? I’m not sure. The only thing I changed here was that I used honey instead of Corn Syrup. But I don’t have corn syrup and didn’t have any plans to use it so I replaced it with honey. No complaints! These cookies were awesome! I would definitely make them again. Enjoy! And stay warm!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened 

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 

• 1 cup packed brown sugar 

• 1/2 cup white sugar 

• 2 eggs 

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 tablespoons water 

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

• 1 teaspoon baking soda 

• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

• 2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate 10 oz bag

Preheat oven to 375F° (190C°). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the honey, water, and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 36 cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin Molasses Cookies

First. Election. If you’re voting by mail and haven’t yet, please drop your ballot in a ballot box or at your local election ballot drop-off location, more info here! So you are sure your vote will be counted! Late ballots by mail might not be counted if they’re received late and your vote really does matter!

So cookies. I’ve been meaning to try out this recipe for a while. We had some incredibly good cookies from Costco recently, their oatmeal raisin cookies were amazing. I could taste the molasses. So I ventured onto this recipe. It’s really good! But it’s definitely heavier on molasses than the ones I had from Costco. Still, this recipe makes a great cookie, it’s chewy and falls somewhere between oatmeal raisin and gingerbread. I love molasses and wonder why I don’t bake with it more? I made a few adjustments with butter and sugar but I think you will like it.

And so, you know, we have this election coming up (which is a big freakin’ deal!) but I feel remarkably calm about it. I really think that Biden is going to win. I do. Obviously I could be totally wrong, but… everything is telling me that he is going to win. Trump will blame everyone and everything possible, because of course nothing is ever his fault according to him. But man, I want that moment next week where the American people can say to Trump: “You’re Fired!”

I want that so bad.

I didn’t expect Joe Biden to be the one that could make this happen. But the people have spoken and here we are, which I’m totally ok with. And also, Kamala Harris! Here we have a woman (also POC) running as vice-president and it’s like not even a big deal! How awesome is that?! :) I’m old enough to have voted for Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and it’s kind of incredible that there has not been one woman on the Presidential ticket since then, with the exception of Hillary in 2016, but really, why not?

Let’s hope I’m right.

Good Vibes going into this. And good cookies to get us through. We can do this. #votebiden

Oatmeal Raisin Molasses Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups raisins

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 large eggs, room temp

• 1/2 cup molasses

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 (heaping) teaspoon cinnamon

Plump the raisins, place raisins in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes. Then drain and set aside.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer) beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in molasses. In a separate bowl whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add the oat mixture to the butter mixture with a wooden spoon and mix well. Stir in raisins.

Place a tablespoon of cookie dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes (mine were done in 14 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. This recipe makes a lot of cookies! 5 dozen at this size cookie. I make a couple batches then refrigerate the rest of the dough. You can also freeze the dough so you can make the cookies at your own pace. 

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Crispy Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crispy Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’ll tell you right now, this recipe is a keeper! I’ve been eager to make these cookies ever since I saw David Lebovitz’s blog post recently. I’ve made chocolate chip cookies before, you might remember my 2-ways post back a few years ago with that giant cast-iron pan cookie! And while those are good, these are much much better. These are absolutely delicious. They’re similar to Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. What makes them thinner and crisper? I compared the two recipes and while they’re quite similar in ingredients, this one here has less flour, less egg and the addition of water. Water? Maybe that’s the secret ingredient! 

In any case I made a couple changes, using dark brown sugar rather than light brown sugar, I think it works fine. And I chopped up 7 ounces of 72% Cacao dark chocolate bars rather than using chocolate chips, it’s up to you but I like the big chocolate pieces in the cookie. David has the dough balls scooped out around a 1/4 cup each, I think that might be too much, I used a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough, rounded it out into a ball and they were pretty large, you can see from my photo below that even spacing them out a lot they still ran into each other. You basically want a 1”-1 1/4” ball. I got out my big-ass baking sheet on the next round so they had plenty of room to spread. The following batches I went for more of a 1” size ball. And all of them were done more close to 15 minutes. Not only will the time depend on the size of the cookie, but if the cookie dough is left out of the fridge longer they might be done a minute or two sooner. So keep an eye on them towards the end.

It’s January which marks the 7th anniversary of this blog! I can’t believe I’m still doing this, lol. I’ve learned a lot and have become much more comfortable cooking and baking and of course photographing the whole business. Much thanks to those that stop by to see what I’m up to, I appreciate your comments and such. I know blogging is not so much a thing these days but personally appreciate everyone out there that’s sticking to it and sharing recipes, how-tos and all that. The internet has become so toxic over the years, sometimes it’s nice to just chill out and read about cookies. I have quite a few recipes I want to share with you over the next few weeks, some of my favorites that have been on repeat. I think you’ll enjoy them. Speaking of enjoy, please please make these cookies, you won’t be disappointed.  David’s recipe is adapted from Joanne Chang’s Pastry Love: A Baker’s Journal of Favorite Recipes.

Crispy Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 8 ounces (225g) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 1 cup (200g) superfine sugar (or put regular sugar in blender for a few seconds)

• 1/2 cup (100g) firmly-packed dark brown sugar

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 3 tablespoons (45g) water

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 3/4 cups (245g) flour

• 1 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt or kosher salt (if using Morton's kosher salt, use 3/4 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon for more profound saltiness)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups (280g, 7-10 ounces) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (chopped or chips)

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Or use a hand mixer, doing this by hand will wear you out and take much much longer.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, add in the egg, water, and vanilla and mix until well combined.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the chopped chocolate and toss in the flour mixture. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the flour and chocolate chunk mixture until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl (or transfer to a container and cover) refrigerate the dough at least 3 to 4 hours, or overnight.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the dough, formed in 1-inch to 1 1/4-inch balls on the baking sheet, spaced at least 3-inches (8cm) apart. (They will spread, so expect to get 5 or 6 on a standard baking sheet.) Press the cookies down slightly with your hand and bake until the cookies have spread and just until there are no light patches across the center, rotating the baking sheet(s) midway during baking so they bake evenly. They'll take about 13-15 minutes, check the cookies a few minutes before the timer goes off and see if they need longer. The time will depend on the size of the cooker, larger will take a bit longer but only a minute or two more.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Storage: The dough can be refrigerated up to four days, or frozen for up to three months. The cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to three days but are best the day they are baked.

Adapted from David Lebovitz who adapted it from Joanne Chang