Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

I find the the flavor combination of peanut butter and chocolate irresistible! Apparently my Facebook friends agree. So, by popular request, here's my version of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. As always, I try to use local/organic/fair trade ingredients whenever possible.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

(adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Position rack in upper third of the oven.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract. It should appear light and fluffy when fully combined.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the peanut butter mixture, stirring to combine well.
6. Stir in chopped peanuts and chocolate chips.
7. Drop generous spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Press each mound of dough with a fork to flatten slightly.
9. Bake until bottom of cookies are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets half-way through cooking to ensure an even bake.
10. Remove from oven and let cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

NOTE:

• Instead of granulated sugar I use turbinado sugar by Sugar in the Raw.
• The better the quality of peanut butter and chocolate, the tastier these cookies will be.

Alternative

• Although I haven't tried it yet, I don't see why you couldn't substitute the peanut butter and peanuts for other types of nut butters and nuts. Get creative.

I just ran across this recipe on the Whole Foods website, which is very similar, but uses fleur de sel as a finishing ingredient. Sounds great! I've got to try it.

So, what are some of your favorite holiday cookie recipes?