Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Dark Chocolate

Peanut butter is something people are obsessed with. Watching commercials of people taking a spoon to peanut butter and eating it...well I think that's interesting. While other people would bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school during my elementary days, I would bring bologna sandwiches. If the day came when I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I would go heavy on the jelly and light on the peanut butter. Am I weird?

Other than the rare times I would eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or should I say a jelly sandwich with some peanut butter, the only time I would eat a sandwich with peanut butter alone was on a toasted filipino roll called Pan de Sal. For some reason or another, this appealed to me because of the warm crunchy bread that heated the peanut butter just enough to change it's flavor characteristics and consistency.

Well, this time it's all about a Peanut Butter cookie. These cookies are extremely moist and chewy with just a hint of chocolate to bring you to those peanut butter cup flavor characteristics. My friend C thought they were "So goooddd" and would like "a thousand more". If that's any indication to make these, do it!

AJ's Secret:

• Why is it that my cookies come out flat instead of thick? It's all about the leavener. Baking soda causes a chemical reaction that causes the cookie to rise nicely, but once cooled, brings the cookie back down to a flatter level.

Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Dark Chocolate

Recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook) 

Ingredients
225g unsalted butter at room temp
200g caster sugar
200g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
240g crunchy peanut butter
340g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
75g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 170C (325F). Prepare two baking trays with baking parchment paper on.

 Put the butter and sugars in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Turn the mixer down to a slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract and peanut butter. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Stir in the chocolate until evenly dispensed.

Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies should be soft and chewy.

-Aaron John