Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies

These cookies are YUMMM! It's the texture I'd like for chocolate chip cookies. Maybe minus a bit of the crumbliness. The peanut buttery-ness of this cookie is perfect. The cookie itself was a bit too sweet for me and not salty enough. I'd definitely increase the salt to 1/2-3/4 tsp next time.

I made giant cookies! Even bigger than the previous chocolate chip cookies. I'm getting use to making giant cookies. In the past, I use to scoop a teaspoon worth of batter. These days, it's at least a quarter of a cups worth. I have to admit, it makes scooping out the dough much quicker.

The dough is easy to handle and I quite like the effect of rolling the cookie dough in sugar and then using a fork to press it down. Ooh, maybe next time, I'd dip the cookies in chocolate too. Mmm.

Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies from thecakemistress
makes 24 cookies (depending on size - I only ended up with 16)

4 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (smooth or crunchy)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

For sprinkling: 1/4 cup caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and the 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. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Using an ice-cream scoop or tablespoon drop cookie rounds into the sugar, then onto a sheet of baking paper. Be sure to leave 2-3 cm around each for expansion. You could also use a fork to indent the top with a pattern, but do not overly flatten cookies.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until they change to light golden brown. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but once they cool down they become firmer. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Peanut butter bars

These peanut butter bars are a huge YUMM. I did overdose on them and regretted eating too many of them later on but thinking back it was totally worth it! The recipe from cooking on the side called for a 13x9 inch tin. I used a 9x9 inch tin just because I don't have a 13x9 inch tin and I prefer a thicker base. The slices look deceivingly tall but they're less than an inch high.

The bars turned out really rich, dense and fudgy. Very peanut buttery! Definitely recommend this recipe but only if you have backup when it comes to eating them. Will definitely make a different variation of this! Probably with a banana and jam filling. I cut down a fair bit on the sugar. I used a cup of sugar for the base and 1/2 a cup of sugar for the filling.

Peanut Butter Bars

makes one 9 inch cake

Crust

1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

2 eggs
2 tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 185 C.

2. Mix butter, peanut butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and mix well. Reserve a cup of this mixture for the top.

3. Firmly press remaining mixture into bottom of greased baking pan.

4. Beat eggs, peanut butter and sugar together. Spread over unbaked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crust mixture. Bake for 20 minutes or until set and top is golden. Cool in pan and cut into bars.