perfect peanut butter cookies

When I found myself with some (precious) extra time Friday afternoon, I decided to make cookies. I wanted to venture from the cookies I make almost every single time, and as I was mentally flipping through options (snickerdoodles, chocolate crackles, raisin oatmeal), my mind landed on peanut butter cookies and the decision was made.

I've never had a go-to peanut butter cookie recipe. Rather, I'd look up something new pretty much each time online, and inevitably be a little disappointed each time. Like Goldilocks and her porridge, the peanut butter cookies I made never turned out just right. They were too flat. Or too cakey. Or not peanut-buttery enough.

My lack of go-to peanut butter cookie dilemma exists no longer. I have found the magic combination of steps and ingredients that yield the perfect-sized, crunchy-on-the-outside while chewy-in-the-center, withstands being dipped in a glass of milk and perfectly peanut-buttery peanut butter cookies. The accolades belong to Smitten Kitchen (who adapted her recipe from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook), where my main change to the original recipe was to omit the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips (I didn't have the former and wasn't in the mood for the latter, though perhaps will test out their inclusion another time). Also, she flattened with a spatula, whereas I opted for the more traditional fork criss-cross. I used natural peanut butter (where the only ingredient is peanuts).

Rather than mostly re-type the recipe, I'll direct you to the original here.

Avery enjoyed his very first peanut butter cookie (yes, even this vegetable-pushing mom lets her offspring enjoy a cookie every once in a while), alongside his sippy cup of milk.

I hope you enjoy them as much as he did!