Hand Mixed Peanut Butter Cookies

It has been a while since I have baked up a treat using one of my favorite ingredients, Peanut Butter. I was craving cookies and as you know, I have my all-time-hands-down-ain’t-no-other-better peanut butter cookie recipe, however I decided to play around with another recipe instead. I am sure many of you have seen the 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. I have made it a few times when I needed a Peanut Butter fix in a pinch, when I have run out of flour, butter or was too lazy to pull out my mixer. Yep, these babies are so simple plus you get a small workout while stirring the dough. That is great because it means you can enjoy more of these babies once they are finished (or just eat some of the dough)!  This time I decided to bump them up a notch and play around with the ingredients.

As you can see, they are no longer only 3 ingredient but they are still super simple and don’t require flour, butter or even a mixer! Because I was looking for a cookie that was chewy, I added brown sugar in combination with white sugar to get the texture I was craving. If you want, you can use any proportion of brown and white sugar you want (as long as it equals a cup or a little less) to reach what texture you are wanting. White sugar tends to create a cookie with a slightly more crisp texture than a cookie made with brown sugar. I found the proportion I used to be just right for my tastes.

In addition to using brown sugar, I also added some baking powder to inhibit the cookies from spreading too much. A dash of vanilla and salt rounded out the flavors of the dough nicely. To jazz them up a bit more I added chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter cups (how can you go wrong?). 

The final result was a chewy cookie that was not cakey at all. They were better than I had expected. While they won’t replace my favorite recipe, (I can’t wait to try chopped Reese’s  when I make them again) these did not disappoint anyone who tried one. The chunks of Reese’s complimented the Peanut Butter flavor in the cookie and provided the right amount of sweetness (though it may be a little too sweet for some). These were quick, easy and best of all used fewer ingredients than most recipes. Another bonus is that they contain no additional fat other than the peanut butter, require no flour and can be mixed by hand in minutes! Nothing says homemade like hand mixed cookies!

I rate this recipe an 8.5

Hand Mixed Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from this recipe
1 cup Peanut Butter (I like creamy)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (more or less to taste)
sugar for rolling dough balls

Prepare baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the peanut butter, sugars and salt until combined. Add the egg, vanilla and baking powder. Stir to combine. Gently fold in the chopped candy.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.
Drop spoonfuls of dough into a bowl of sugar and gently roll to coat. Place onto the prepared baking sheet and press down with fork so they are even thickness. 
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Be sure to watch carefully and do not overbake!
Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to rack to cool completly. These are very tender and fragile until cool and set.