Can You Have Too Many Variations On Desserts That You Love?: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

It is probably obvious by now this blog will never be a repository for the “best” recipes for any particular dish. I am sure it would be nice if I sat and tested my way through endless variations and then presented you with my findings, but honestly I think I might go crazy. With apologies to those of you who do so, it kind of smacks of hubris to me anyway. I am not that old, I have not made THAT many peanut butter cookies. Who knows, maybe this recipe will be even better than the last?

Anyway, I was craving chocolate the other night, in a cookie, but not intense chocolate, and I was browsing though Lisa Yockelson’s ChocolateChocolate, when I came upon this recipe. My only change was to add a handful, maybe 1/3-1/2 cup, of peanut butter chips. I think peanut butter chips are a necessity in any peanut butter cookie. They completely amp the peanut butter flavor to me. But I did not correspondingly reduce the chocolate chips, since this was, after all, originally about the chocolate.

These are fabulous. I won’t claim they are the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies EVER–see comments above–but I will say that if you like peanut butter cookies and you like chocolate chips, I really think you should give these a whirl. They are on the thick side and craggy, with an appetizing golden color. They are a little crispy but mostly chewy. If your kitchen is as cold as mine is right now (it’s going into the low 30’s here at night right now but my heat is not yet turned on) I do recommend a 10 second nuke in the microwave starting the second day, although it is by no means necessary.

One note: this recipe is pretty large. I baked a little more than half (2 sheets or 24 cookies) and froze the rest.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Lisa Yockelson’s ChocolateChocolate

3 cups (378 g) AP flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 T shortening
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 t vanilla
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used no stir “natural”–she says not to use natural, but the no stir does have sugar and shortening in it)
12 oz chocolate chips
a little under 1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream the butter and shortening together until well blended. Add the peanut butter and cream until it is blended in also–about 3 minutes on moderately low speed. Add the light brown sugar and granulated sugar slowly, taking 3 minutes to beat. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 45 seconds after each. Add the vanilla and beat to incorporate. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, blending after each. Fold in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. If your kitchen is hot, chill for one hour (I did not but it is cold here).

Place 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough on the cookie sheets, about 3 inches apart, 12 cookies to a sheet. Using the tines of a fork, press down gently to make a cross pattern, flattening them a bit. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, reversing the sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through. The cookies are done when they are set and just beginning to brown. let them set for 1 minute on the cookie sheets, and then transfer them to a cooling rack.