Lovin' From the Oven

Day 1: Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

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Are you all ready for some serious cookie-mania? I feel like in the food blogging world, December is the prime month for cookies. Everyone loves doing the 12 days of cookies and since I did it last year, I’ll continue my tradition. From now til Christmas, I’ll blog about 12 different types of cookies. That way, you’ll have plenty to choose from when deciding what to bake for your Christmas baskets. 🙂

Day 1 of my 12 days of cookies: This recipe is from Baked. I found it on Food Gal’s blog and had to try it from her mouth-watering pictures. I’ve seen this recipe pop up on a few other websites, and it was always raved about. They were good if you were a peanut butter/chocolate lover. I just found out that I don’t really care for the combination…. and neither does my family/boyfriend’s family. Hmm.. Note to self: Don’t bake peanut butter cookies for a family event.

I found them a bit on the salty side and wish they would have been a bit fluffier instead of so flat. I even made sure to refrigerate mine for at least 3 hours! I would definitely try freezing the dough next time instead of just refrigerating, in hopes of a thicker cookie. Oh well.. they still tasted good! The recipe may seem a little lengthy, but I promise it’s not!

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks (makes 24 cookies)

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 6 ounces good milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
  1. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars together until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add vanilla and peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.
  3. Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until incorporated.
  4. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in chocolate. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart. With palm of your hand, very gently press each cookie down so it forms a very tall disk shape. Do not press too hard and do not press it flat.
  7. Sprinkle tops of cookies with granulated sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time, until tops of cookies just begin to brown.
  8. Remove pan from oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer individual cookies to the rack to cook completely (although they are also delicious warm).
  9. The cookies can be stored, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

To recap last year’s list of my 12 days of cookies:

Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy Cookies

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As you may or may not know, every First Lady has a unique dessert recipe that they share with the public. At my work, we sell a book called Presidential Cookies. Each page gives a summary about every President and their First Lady, along with one or two of their favorite recipes. Fun, right? The only sucky part about the book is that the pictures included are terrible! No offense, but every picture is taken on the same plate– same scene– same ol’ dim lighting. I especially love cookbooks with great pictures of each recipe, so I wasn’t a fan of the visuals in this one.

It’s funny because you can tell how much the cookies have improved from the 1700’s. They start out with three ingredients and gradually increase as time goes on. I chose to try one a bit closer to our time period, one from Laura Bush. To be honest, a coworker baked them and brought them into work. They were so good that I had to bake some for myself. I opted to make them smaller rather than putting 1/4 cup of dough into each cookie. I also omitted the coconut, because I can always do without that. These cookies would be easy to sub some ingredients into depending on your liking.. Just take out one and replace with another! Try them for yourself!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 2 cups sweetened flake coconut
  • 2 cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

    • Directions

    Prep Time: 25 minutes
    Bake Time: 17 to 29 minutes
    Yield: About 3 dozen cookies (see note below)

    1. Heat oven to 350 F.
    2. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.
    3. In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes.
    4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla.
    5. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.
    6. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
    7. Bake in 350 F oven 17 to 29 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool.

    Note: For 6 dozen small cookies, use 2 tablespoons dough for each. Bake at 350 F for 15 to 18 minutes.

    My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

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    You can never have enough chocolate chip cookies and you can never bake enough of them. I used to search high and low for the perfect CCC recipe while experimenting with all the different ingredients to see what made the best difference. This is my one and only CCC recipe that I use and I don’t even bother glancing at another one anymore. It’s perfectly thick, chewy, and crispy, while maintaining the perfect amount of flavor. I’ve posted the recipe on here before, but I’ll post it again to make sure you don’t miss it. Just look how photogenic these cookies are! They’ve pleased everyone so far and I’ve baked them at least a dozen times!

    These cookies go great with the snuggly weather, which I sure do miss. I’d gladly give up a week of sun for a week of overcast and rain. Good thing I’ll be going to Seattle next week with my boyfriend! That way, I get to soak in the lovely cold weather and cuddle with my love! Speaking of Seattle, does anyone have any places to recommend going besides my favorite cupcake shop, Trophy’s? I’d love to hear any suggestions! We’ll be going for 4 days, 3 nights and will be staying in downtown Seattle, so anywhere nearby is fair game! 🙂

    • 2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
    • 1 cup packed brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup white sugar
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 1 egg
    • 1 egg yolk
    • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
    1. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
    2. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
    3. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. When it’s time, Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
    4. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
    5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

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