Comfort Cookies

I recently made my friend Jen’s grandmother’s peanut butter marshmallow squares (the recipe is actually here, too). While they were good, and the Engineer compared them to a peanut-buttery cloud, they were too much for me. I have a sweet tooth, but these were beyond what I could handle! I could only have a little square at a time, except that it didn’t quite satisfy any dessert cravings I had. I think this would be a great dish for a potluck, though, where everyone has a little bit of everything, but I won’t make it again for the household.

But then I tried these cookies from Bakerella, which I thought were in the same vein because they’re double-chocolate with peanut butter. Turns out I was wrong: the peanut butter is actually very subtle here, and even the chocolate isn’t overwhelming. The Engineer said it was a harmonious cookie, and I less eloquently declared them to be like crack – I couldn’t help but swipe one every time I passed the baking sheet. And they were so good! I really loved them and will be sure to make them part of the rotation. As for the yield, things get a little blurry here. The original recipe says 30 cookies, but I made 24. I was reminded of David Lebovitz’s tweet from a month ago: “Problem with Cookie Dough: Yield never matches how many cookies it's supposed to make. / Solution: Stop eating the dough before baking it.” Yeah, that might have been a factor (don’t worry, I used pasteurized eggs). But then again, I had dough left over at the bottom of the bowl, only it had a sandy consistency and was too dry to hold together, like the egg had never gotten around to it. I considered adding an egg white and baking those cookies too, but then I ended up using it as a topping on ice cream and yogurt, and that was fabulous.

1 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, slightly softened
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup peanut butter (I use Skippy Natural)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
10 oz. dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

In a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa, soda and salt using a wire whisk and set aside.

In another bowl, cream butter, sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
Stir in dark chocolate chips.

Roll cookie dough into 1¼ -inch balls. Place on parchment paper covered baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes (I baked mine 13 minutes; I baked both sheets at the same time and rotated them after 5 minutes).
Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.