the perfect peanut butter cookie

If you can't control your peanut butter, you can't expect to control your life. - Bill Watterson


Peanut butter is practically the love of my life. It's seriously a magical food: sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy... I've used peanut butter in everything from cookies to soup. An obvious sandwich spread, I love peanut butter paired with jam, Nutella, or bananas (I call that last one a PB² sandwich. Yup, I'm a geek). I stir it into my ramen to add protein and flavour. And I make a killer peanut sauce that's perfect with Vietnamese spring rolls. Then there is, of course, the classic jar-and-spoon approach (talk about a really fast and portable breakfast... I've definitely taken a jar of peanut butter with me to an early class on more than one occasion).  Funny story: my brother and I used to make 'dessert mashed potatoes' by pouring honey over spoonfuls of peanut butter in a bowl. However overly sweet and ridiculous that sounds now, let me tell you... we enjoyed it immensely.

As it's nearing Christmastime, and baking season is in full swing, I've been fondly reminiscing to the days of Christmas cookie-making with my grandma. We would spend hours stirring up dozens of batches of seemingly endless varieties of cookie dough. After a long day of mixing, shaping, baking and decorating, we always put together gift tins of the finished products to share with the neighbours.


My favourite cookies? Peanut butter, of course! Somehow, creating a checkerboard pattern by pressing the tines of a fork into each little ball of cookie dough was irresistibly fun.


Earlier this fall, I decided it was time to experiment with my peanut butter cookie recipe. I'd long wished for a cookie that was soft, not crunchy like most recipes, and super peanut butter-y. Using a Nutella cookie recipe as a starting point, I tweaked ingredients and proportions until I achieved the desired results.


I humbly (or maybe not so much) present to you the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe.


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2 eggs

1 1/2 C + 1 T creamy peanut butter

3/4 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the first four ingredients and mix well. Stir in the flour half a cup at a time. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Press a fork into each cookie dough ball to flatten slightly, and bake for 10-12 minutes.
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Might I suggest making double and sharing with friends? Here's to holiday cheer!