Bites of chocolate peanut butter bliss

Although I truly relish the opportunity to flex my culinary muscles and try something new, there's something about the simple and familiar that has recently been more tempting to me…breaded chicken and a touch of seasoning, sautéed spinach with garlic, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Now, these cookies are not to be confused with an earlier recipe, peanut butter chocolate chip. The cookie recipe I made last night merely rearranges the flavors, but the end result is, in my opinion, far from the standard peanut butter cookie. This recipe, though basic enough was truly refreshing, producing a cookie that is amazingly soft and chewy (after baking for 10 minutes on a nonstick tray), and maintains a perfect balance between the two flavors. The chocolate and peanut butter come together even more fluidly when a small teaspoon of the dough is eaten…although I should not recommend this, due to the raw eggs. I found these cookies to be scrumptious both before and after baking. My taste-tester only got the baked version, but he concurred that they were a chewy, comforting cookie.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a second medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Blend in the eggs and vanilla and then blend in the flour mixture. Finally, fold in the peanut butter chips. Drop cookies by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until set. Cool on wire racks.