Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

5.17.21.

Ten years ago I made a ho-hum peanut butter recipe with peanut butter chips. Here’s what I said about the cookies back then:

This recipe came about as an accident as after making the Peanut Butter Brown Butter Cookies, I felt as though I didn’t have enough to take to work. I needed to make more. However,  I didn’t have enough processed peanut butter in the house. Instead I substituted organic natural peanut butter and unintentionally omitted the powdered sugar listed below. (I tend to have a problem with unintentionally omitting an ingredient whenever I double the recipe. Whoops!)

I’ve learned a lot since that time. Specifically, I’ve learned that I love Levain-style cookies best of any other style of cookie. Have you ever been to Levain Bakery in New York City (or Washington DC – I see they have expanded their locations since I was last there)? If not, you need to go the next time you’re in the city. Or in DC. They are simply the best. They are everything you want a cookie to be: large, thick and soft in the middle. And now I try to recreate Levain Bakery style cookies in every flavor imaginable.

ingredients.

• 1 c. cold butter, cubed
• 1 ¾ c. brown sugar
• 1 c. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 ½ c. flour, leveled
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 c. peanut butter chips
• 1 c. Reese’s Pieces

directions.

1. Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, add flours, cornstarch, soda and salt and stir together to incorporate.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter until creamy. It will not be light and creamy like standard cookie dough. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one and scraping the sides and bottom to make sure all ingredients are incorporated. Add vanilla and stir to combine.
4. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix until almost combined and then stir in chips and Reese’s Pieces. Stop mixing when you see no more flour (so long as the chips are sufficiently mixed in with the rest of the dough).
5. Make approximately 10 to 12 large balls of dough and place on light colored cookie sheets covered in parchment paper or Silpat. To do this, use a cookie scoop. I place two scoops of dough right on top of each other. You should have five to six cookies per cookie sheet. They do not spread out all that much but you don’t want the cookies to touch during the baking process.
6. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until golden brown along the edges. For extra schnazzy cookies, dot them with additional chips  and Reese’s Pieces when they are fresh out of the oven. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets. If you can’t wait for them to cool completely before trying them (Levain serves their cookies warm!), allow to set at least 15 or 20 minutes before digging in.

Recipe rating: 