Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies

Attention Peanut Butter Lovers! These Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies are absolutely delicious with the peanut butter, salted peanuts and peanut butter chips! My daughter found this recipe online years ago and she requested them recently (along with chicken cutlets, lol). My family likes them a little darker so I would bake them a little longer until they are golden brown on top.

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/peanut-butter-cookies.html

CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature (I use Jif)

• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 large egg

• 1 cup peanut butter chips

• 1/2 cup finely chopped salted peanuts

Directions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds more. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts.

4. Chill the dough for 1 hour (see note below). Set racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven and preheat to 325°F. Using a 1-1/2-inch scooper with a wire scraper (if you don’t have one, use a spoon and your hands), form the dough into golf ball-sized balls on the prepared baking sheets. Using the tines of a fork, mark a crisscross pattern on the cookies, pressing them down slightly.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until puffed and golden on the bottom (my family likes them a little darker on top so we let them go longer). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. (Note: the cookies are very fragile when hot, so take care not to break them. They’ll firm up nicely as they cool.)

Note: It is not absolutely necessary to chill the dough, however, it is quite sticky and difficult to handle if you don't have a "cookie scooper." Chilling the dough makes it much easier to handle, but feel free to skip this step if you like.