Addiction

The first thing I did when I got home from New York was bake. Ok, not the very first thing, but very close to the top of that list. I was back on a Sunday and I was baking by Monday afternoon. What can I say? Baking is therapeutic in its insistence on methodology; combine dry ingredients, then wet ingredients, mix slowly. And who can argue against the intrinsic beneficial properties of a freshly baked cookie? I’d like to see someone try.

I was thrilled to get my hands back on my 6-speed hand mixer – I felt like an addict being reunited with a favorite crackpipe. Now to find some crack…or in my case, a recipe. I delved into the stash of recipes I’d been stockpiling all summer and felt the pang of nostalgia when I found one for peanut butter cookies.

The Conde cafeteria I’d frequented all summer had the most delicious little peanut butter cookies and I knew immediately that I’d made my decision. Someone in that kitchen had the brilliant idea to burry peanut butter chips that melted in your mouth into the crumbly buttery cookie shell and the results were simply divine.

And so I set about making my own version. I knew that I was on the right track as soon as I tasted the dough – it was soooo good. I was eating it off the mixers like someone who thought Salmonella was a city in Italy. The recipe I was using was a variation of Magnolia Bakery’s and called for only smooth peanut butter. I like a little texture in my cookie so I used half smooth and half crunchy. As the title of this post implies, the cookies were fabulous – so good that an unwitting friend who had come over in the midst of my baking was so enthralled by them as to eat four in about five minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (I used ½ cup smooth and ½ cup chunky)
¾ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1) In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2) In a large bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract.
3) Add the flour mixture in three stages, making sure each time the flour mixture in thoroughly incorporated before adding more. Beat thoroughly.
4) Fold in the peanut butter chips.
5) Using two spoons, scoop about a tablespoon of dough at a time, making round little balls of it. Place theses on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet with plent of space in between for expansion. When all the balls have been placed on the sheet, take a fork and press lightly on each ball but hard enough to leave a criss-cross indentation but do not overly flatten the cookies.
6) Bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake – they may appear to be underdone but they are not!