We don't make peanut butter cookies all that often at our house. Dan isn't allergic to peanuts (since they aren't really nuts, but legumes), only tree nuts. But, it is pretty hard to find peanut butter that is guaranteed to be free of cross contamination, so Dan is generally not a fan. Every so often, however, I need peanut butter cookies and make a batch anyway. Yesterday was one of those days, and I mixed up a batch of my favorite peanut butter cookies. And then ate about one hundered of them.
What I'm trying to say is that these are good. So, so good. I would guess that they are really just a very standard peanut butter cookie; there are probably a thousand similar recipes floating around the interwebs. But this is probably because a good standard is just that; something that you can go back to again and again, expecting to get reliable results.
This recipe makes a dozen cookies. You could easily double it, but keep in mind that you will then have twice as many cookies. And you will eat all of them. So, you know, make informed decisions. That's all.
Peanut Butter Cookies
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tspn vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour, spooned and leveled
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 tspn baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the peanut butter and butter in the bowl of a standard mixer. Add in sugars and blend until fluffy. Then add in the egg and vanilla and mix until well blended. Mix dry ingredients and add them to the peanut butter mixture, stirring until the batter is stiff but smooth. Refrigerate the batter for about forty-five minutes, until it is firm. Roll spoonfuls of batter into twelve equal sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Press the cookies flat-ish using the back of a fork. Bake for eight to ten minutes, until the cookies begin to brown.
