Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm on a baking streak again. This was spurred by the fact that chocolate chip cookies are so darn expensive in stores. I know how some people would rather buy than go through the trouble of baking the cookies themselves but I love the trouble of baking my own because 1) I love making food 2) I get to control what's in the cookies 3) I get to pick the bits off the cookie dough :P

Sinful but good to pick on

This chocolate chip cookie with peanuts recipe is an adaptation of the chocolate anise biscotti. I did some changes to it by adding roasted peanuts, brown sugar, increasing the amount of flour and taking a portion of the baking powder away. The result is a very nice textured cookie that's a little chewy and crunchy where it matters. It's crunchy around the sides and bits that juts out here and there while retaining layer of chewiness in the center. It's absolutely lovely with milk.

Here's the recipe for my Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Cookie:
1 cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (pressed down the sugar until you get 3/4 cup)
2 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chip (approx. 270grams)
3/4 cup roasted peanuts, skinless (use macadamia or walnuts or pecans if you want)


Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Cream butter with a whisk (to build baking muscles in your arms) or with an electric beater until its color becomes a pale yellow. After that, add both brown sugar and white sugar, beat for another 2 more minutes until the mixture is fluffy.

2. Change to a spatula, add one egg at a time, mix well each time. Then, pour in your vanilla essence and mix well again.


If you can, please use REAL vanilla extract. Of course, you can always use the cheaper kind but i like real vanilla extract because it gives a certain depth to your baking goods. They are more expensive but it's well worth it. I would go to the extend of making my own vanilla extract with vodka and vanilla beans but I'll leave that for another day.

3. Mix your flour, baking powder and salt throughly first so that it is evenly distributed. Then, add half of it into the mixture earlier, mix and then add your chocolate chips and nuts in and mix again.

4. Once mixed well, add remaining flour in and mix again until your cookie dough is done. Please refrain from picking on the bits...i'm just covering my behind in case you get salmonella poisoning but I am not really concern about that. Salmonella usually stays on the shell of the egg ...it's only if you're really unlucky that you get an infected egg. I'll take my chances really, cookie doughs are soooo yummy! This one is out of this world.

5. If your cookie dough is too sticky, pop it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then, scoop up a ball about the size of a golf ball and plonk it on the baking tray.

they're about the size of golf balls

Make sure you have about 1.5 inch space in between each dough ball. Bake for 15 minutes and then let them cool on a tray before you store them in an air tight container.

Fresh out of the oven

Now, this will be a treat for all the cookie monsters out there! :)