Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies

 I've been away from home for months helping my mom recover from two hip replacement surgeries.  It feels really good to be home, though I still worry about my mom.  On my first day home I surveyed my backyard garden.  There is a LOT of work to be done.  The weeds and overgrowth have just about taken over.  The pathways are barely walkable in my bare feet.  Yep, I like to walk it in my bare feet.  The good news is there will be plenty of blooms for inside.  I didn't allow myself to stay out there today though.  Hubs needs some cookies to really feel like I'm home :)  I pulled out the favorite peanut butter recipe, but felt a little extra touch of mini chocolate chips would make them extra special.  I was right, we both loved them.  If you don't have a blue ribbon, first prize winning peanut butter recipe, you can use mine.  It's pretty much about creaming, mixing and quality ingredients to get a perfect cookie.

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The one ingredient that is added to the prize winning recipe is mini semi sweet chocolate chips.  If you click back on the recipe you'll see some DIY pictures.

Recipe:
1/2 cup real butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon really good quality vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to (350 F)
2. Beat the butters, sugars, baking powder & soda together. 
3. Add the egg & vanilla. 
4. Add the flour. The dough will be soft and fluffy.
5. Fold in the mini semi sweet chocolate chips.
6. Shape the dough into 1" balls.  Place them about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Dip fork tines in sugar and gently apply pressure to the dough ball to flatten out to about 1/2 thick.  I like one set of tine marks, but you can make a crosshatch pattern too.  Put a pinch of sugar on top of each cookie.
7. Bake  at 350 F. 9-12  minutes.  The tops will be very light in color-not brown.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Now, I must focus on getting the garden back into shape.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It's been a long time, but once upon a time I was a young girl.  (You can't see me, but I'm smiling about that!)  I wasn't into sports much, but very involved in 4-H.  I didn't particularly like raising and showing farm animals, but really enjoyed the home making activities. 

At about 12 years old  I labored most of a morning making peanut butter cookies to show.  They were soft and perfectly uniform in size and design, however, when it came time to take them from our country kitchen to the county court house show room, I picked up the platter too quickly and all the cookies slid off - onto the floor.  I was crushed and may have slumped into a teary eyed  defeated heap on the floor.  My sweet and ever kind mother calmly salvaged about 6 or 8 cookies then drove me to the 5 & 10 cent store.  She purchased a small, clear, star shaped plate for the cookies which we delivered to the 4-H show just before the deadline.  I received a 1st place blue ribbon for those "salvaged off the floor" cookies.  I wish I still had that plate, but I do still have the recipe for prize winning peanut butter cookies that I think originally came from Better Homes & Gardens.

Blue Ribbon Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup real butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon really good quality vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat the oven to (350 F)
2. Beat the butters, sugars, baking powder & soda together. 
3. Add the egg & vanilla. 
4. Add the flour. The dough will be soft and fluffy.
5. Shape the dough into 1" balls.  Place them about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Dip fork tines in sugar and gently apply pressure to the dough ball to flatten out to about 1/2 thick.  I like one set of tine marks, but you can make a crosshatch pattern too.  Put a pinch of sugar on top of each cookie.
6. Bake  at 350 F. 9-12  minutes.  The tops will be very light in color-not brown.
7. Cool on a wire rack.  If you and your family don't eat them all right away, store them in a cookie jar. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

I just finished making a batch.  It smells really good in my house.  I'm seriously considering adding a drizzle of chocolate to my cookie...