peanut butter cookies

Who doesn't love peanut butter? Whenever I do encounter people who say that they don't like peanut butter, I always approach them with care, because only weirdos don't like peanut butter, right? Crunchy or smooth is a whole other debate, but peanut butter is universal in it's adoration I do believe. I like smooth peanut butter for eating straight from the jar, or to spread on toast. However, for in baking, crunchy is far superior. These cookies are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with little chunks of dark chocolate and crunches of peanut buttery goodness. Hmmm. It's a hummingbird bakery recipe that I've been wanting to try for a while now. It was pretty good, but next time I would try to halve the recipe as this made 24 HUGE cookies, which is too much for me to eat before they go stale, no matter how hard I try! I actually froze half of them so I can have cookies whenever I want now, as they take seconds to defrost in the microwave.

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter (I actually used salted because I like the saltiness with peanut butter and chocolate)
200g caster sugar
200g light soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
240g cruncy peanut butter
340g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons bicarb.
1/2 teaspoon salt
75g dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 170c/325f/gas 3. Grease and line a few baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Mix the butter and 2 types of sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure all the ingredients are well incorporated. Turn the mixer down to low, and add the peanut butter and vanilla extract.

3. Then add the dry ingredients, flour, bicarb and salt, and mix until the dough is smooth. Stir in the chocolate until it's evenly mixed.

4. Arrange on a baking tray in small balls (about 5-7cm big), with big spaces between them, as these cookies spread out to be HUGE! Bake for 10 minutes, or just until they start to turn golden at the edges and cracked in the middle. If they feel soft in the middle, still take them out, as they continue cooking after being taken out of the oven and this makes them perfect and chewy after they've cooled.

5. Enjoy with a glass of milk!