As you know, I love me a good chocolate chip cookie but sometimes you wanna change it up a bit. I opened up my pantry doors, wondering what I’d make, and since Netanel and Ayelet love cookies and were swinging by I figured okay, cc cookies but eureka! my eye caught the Skippy Chunky peanut butter jar. Mmmmmm. So I WhatsApped him to make sure they liked the combo (otherwise, what was the point) and they both hummed with delight.

Now peanut butter can partially take the place of the butter/marg in the recipe, but not entirely or you will get a crumbly mess that falls apart. I specifically wanted the bits of peanut in my cookies for a bit of crunch but if you like smooth better, go for it. In this recipe I use the Skippy but if you want to use natural pb, also okay. Just don’t chintz on the butter/marg or your texture will be poor, fair warning.

To our cookies.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Start with the butter/marg, make sure it’s very soft.

Put in mixer bowl with the sugars.

Beat till smooth and add a full cup of peanut butter. I suggest you spray oil the cup first for ease of removal. Also, press down the pb in the cup so there aren’t big pockets or it won’t be a proper full cup. It matters since without the whole cup, you won’t fully taste the peanut flavor and you will be missing the needed amount of fat in the recipe.

Add to mixer bowl and beat till combined.

Next add eggs and vanilla and beat, then your flour and baking soda. I chose not to add salt since the peanut butter is salty. If you use natural, you might want to add 1/2 a teaspoon salt.

beat till smooth and add the chocolate chip (and disks if you have them), and beat just till smooth.

As you see, it make a lovely creamy thick batter/dough. Good part here, no need to refrigerate the dough.

I use my Oxo medium scooper for a full tablespoon of cookie dough (or just take a tablespoon worth of dough) and place in mounds on parchment paper lined baking sheets or cookie sheets.

Although they don’t spread like crazy and are slightly mounded, give ’em about 2 inches space between them.

Bake in your preheated oven (matters very much here since if you bake for longer, the cookies will get crispy. If you bake for less, softer and chewier) for 9 minutes and the cool thing is they are both a bit crispy and chewy at the same time. They also partially keep their domed shape which I love.

Best of all, the peanut butter tastes shines through beautifully with bits of peanut goodness and the smell as they come out of the oven likely to make you weep with delight. Lemme tell you, even DH stole a bunch of cookies and he’s less of a fan normally. Netanel and Ayelet were so happy with the result that I’ve been given requests for this cookie over the regular chocolate chip ones. There you go!

Divine Peanut butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter/margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used Skippy) or smooth pb if you prefer
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2- 2 cups chocolate chips and disks

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Beat together the softened butter/marg with the two types of sugar. Stick with the amounts of brown and white as written since this determines the chewiness. Spray oil a measuring cup and measure a full cup (packed down) of peanut butter into the cup and add to the sugar mixture and beat till smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat till smooth. Lastly add the flour, baking soda and chocolate chips (and disks if you have them) and beat till fully combined.

Take baking sheets and line with parchment paper and make mounds of a tablespoon worth of cookie dough (use a scooper if you have one) leaving 2 inches room to rise between them. They inflate beautifully but deflate a bit and yet maintain a nice rounded shape. Bake for 9 minutes and remove immediately from the oven. Let cool at least 5 minutes still on baking sheet so they don’t fall apart, then remove to wire racks till cooled. I know you wanna bite right in but better to wait a bit so they solidify.