Award Winning Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

I have a strong passion for baking cookies. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love it, and have numerous recipes for various cookies that I have perfected the recipes to. This peanut butter cookie though, is where it all began.

I always loved baking, I think it's my favorite thing, right along with breakfast. Those are just my specialties.

When I was a young adult in my teens and early 20's I always made cookies, pies, and cakes - always from the box though. In those early years I think a bag of flour would last me forever. I threw away the bag before I had a chance to use it all! It was all about convenience food, something fast, and if I wanted a cake I picked up my favorite box. Or I bought a pie or cake ready made!

When I started experimenting in the kitchen with cooking and food in general, I realized there were many pantry staples I just didn't have. So I started stocking up the more and more I cooked, the more things needed and stored away. Flour, sugar, oils, and spices were all things I started collecting. I started getting more fearless and ready to experiment.

One night I decided I wanted some cookies, but I didn't have a premade mix, and to be honest I didn't really want one. So I found a peanut butter cookie recipe that had everything I already owned in my pantry, and that's when I realized that making cookies from scratch is so much more convenient! They taste so much better, you use things you already have, and it makes a much bigger batch!

Now, I have no idea where I found that original peanut butter cookie recipe, but through the years it's been changed and perfected in many different ways. This recipe is always requested by my family and friends. When there's a bake sale, this is always what I get asked to make.
When I made this particular batch my husband had just come home from work and was leaving on a quick errand. He grabbed a cookie and says "Oh my God, that's good" and grabbed a second. He's had these countless times, but they still elicit that same reaction! My 3 year old is obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so these are right up his alley and are his favorite of all time. He's my sneaky little cookie monster, he comes downstairs in the middle of the night and takes one bite out of each cookie, just so no one else will eat them!!

Needless to say, it's very rare I share this recipe. This is one of my very near and dear to my heart recipes, I hope you love it as much as we do!



Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Next, in a smaller mixing bowl, combine your butter or margarine and your sugars.

This is when you "cream" your sugars.
I had to look that up when I first started baking from scratch. It's basically where you combine these ingredients until the sugars and butter are a smooth "creamy" texture.

Still creaming! Yes, I use a fork to combine everything when I make cookies. When I use a whisk everything gets stuck in the middle, and if I use a hand mixer it beats it too much even on the low setting. So I'm left to use a fork until I purchase this beauty!
It has a "cream" setting where it makes your batter the perfect texture that you're after. I want it in any color, it doesn't matter!

And it's creamy! You don't want it grainy at all, nice and smooth! If you beat it too high, your initial batter will be too dense which equals hard cookies. Yuck! This is why I use a fork! 

Now add your vanilla. The important thing with cookies, and even cakes and pies, is to combine each ingredient one at a time. If you throw it all in there together, the texture of your cookies will be all wrong. 

Now add the egg.

Once the egg is added and mixed it's nice and smooth. 

Now for the peanut butter.
One thing I do remember about the original recipe was it called for creamy peanut butter. I wanted a little bit of chunk in these babies, so I replaced it with all chunky. To me, it was a little too dry. So I played with the measurements of each a little until I got to this. It's perfection. 

Mix peanut butter until smooth.

Now, in a separate bowl combine all your dry ingredients. Flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Sift together until well blended.

Now, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. I usually add half at a time, stir together until just blended, then add the next half. 

Do not overmix! Once again, that will yield hard cookies!

You want to mix until just when you can't see most of the flour anymore.
Now, cover this bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This helps the cookies to be a little thicker. I bake them at a low temperature so they are a soft and chewy texture, so they can sometimes spread too thin if not refrigerated. Before I refrigerated them I would bake them at 300 degrees, but they would end up pretty flat most of the time, still tasty but I like the thickness of cookies!

Now, once they have been chilled for the appropriate time, line a cookie sheet with foil and form little balls with the dough. I usually use an ice cream scoop, and I don't fill it up all the way. I like all my cookies to be about the same size. 

When they are this size, I usually place about 8 balls on the cookie sheet at a time. This way they don't run into each other and make one big cookie!

Now, grab a fork and dip it in sugar and press the well known X in the cookie with the fork.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, the middle will still be soft but the edges will just barely be crispy.

This makes about 18 cookies this size. What a strange number, right?
No matter, they will ALL be gone by the next evening!

These are HIGHLY addicting!

Enjoy!