Peanut Butter Cookies

At our Omaha home, I had a bag of peanut butter chips I really didn't want to move out--well I didn't want them to melt during the move. The solution? Peanut butter cookies! I haven't made peanut cookies for, well I can't even remember the last time. I usually just use the recipe from Jif, but since I have Baking Illustrated, I figured I'd give the recipe a try. My grandmother couldn't get enough of them! Yes, they were that good. The recipe calls for peanuts, but as much as I love peanut butter, I'm really not a fan of peanuts, so that's when I used the peanut butter chips.

Recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups (12.5 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed (7 ounces) brown sugar
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups peanut butter chips or 1 cup peanuts, ground to resemble bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Beat butter until creamy. Add the sugars; beat until fluffy. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Gently stir in the dry ingredients. Add the peanut butter chips (or peanuts) until just incorporated.
4. Roll approximately 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball. Place balls on prepared cookie sheet, spacing 2/5 inches apart. Press each ball with a fork, dipping fork into cold water as needed to prevent dough from sticking.
5. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown around the edges, about 10-12 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through. Cool cookies until set (about 4 minutes) and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
6. Enjoy!