Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

T and I always feel like we have hit the jackpot when either of us successfully convinces the other person that a certain type of food that may be a favorite for one of us but is totally not favored by the other can taste good. And in fact it can be more than just good. A story which we still talk about today is how he convinced me that eggplant can taste good. T absolutely loves eggplant and I really do not, or at least I did not. I blame it on the previous times I had eaten overcooked-until-mushy eggplant when I was young. That was where we had conflicting ideas when it came to grocery shopping or making dinner at home. He lamented that he never got to cook and eat eggplant at home since we eat the same food at home. One day a few months back I felt like being nice and said, Alright we can have eggplant at home. I'll eat it. I promise. And he made the best grilled eggplant dish ever. All he did in response was grin and shook his head with the I-told-you-so look.


 

A few days ago when I announced that I was going to make some peanut butter cookies, T said umm I don't really like peanut butter cookies. I said, What? But you love peanut butter! How can you not like peanut butter cookies? He replied, Yeah, I love peanut butter but I don't like peanut butter cookies. And I was on a mission to make him a convert.

I came home from work one evening to hear T tell me, by the way I had some of those peanut butter cookies on the kitchen counter... they were so good.

There, mission accomplished. These peanut butter cookies did it.

 

Note: Many peanut butter cookie recipes call for smooth peanut butter but I always use crunchy peanut butter because I like having the little nuts in the cookies.

Inspired by David Lebovitz's Peanut Butter Cookies. Makes about 36 cookies.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 large egg, room temperature

Method

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment set on medium speed, beat together the butter, granulated and brown sugars, and peanut butter until just smooth. Beat in the egg.  Add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined and dough comes together.

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or at least for 2 hours. The longer the rest time for the dough, the better the ingredients can meld together so that the cookies will be soft and chewy upon baking.

4. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Pinching off pieces of dough, roll them into balls about 1 inch in size. Place each ball 3 inches apart from each other on the baking sheets. When the baking sheets are filled, use the back of the tines of a fork to slightly flatten each ball while making a crosshatch pattern.

6. Bake the cookies, while rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, for 9 minutes. The cookies should begin to brown at the edges but the centers still look a little uncooked. Removing the cookies from the oven before they look done will make them stay soft and chewy after they have cooled to room temperature.

7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they become firm enough to handle. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.