CLASSIC PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Peanut butter cookie is always welcome by everyone, included me, I really like peanut butter (without anything else, just give me a jar and I finish it). This cookie taste like peanut butter in a solid form (but if you like chunk peanut butter, you may have to eat directly from a jar, or add some salted roasted peanut into this cookie). Using ice cream scoop make the cookie look uniform and they will all done at the same speed. I don’t think that you should keep it too long, the taste is very good the day it made.

CLASSIC PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

MAKES ABOUT 4 DOZEN

2½ cups	all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons	baking soda
½ teaspoon	salt (+ ¼ teaspoon if you like a little bit salty like me)
1 cup (2 sticks)	unsalted butter, softened
1 cup	granulated sugar
1 cup	packed light-brown sugar
2	large eggs
1½ cups	smooth peanut butter

* For the best texture, use regular, not natural, peanut butter.

1. Preheat oven to 350 Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in eggs, then peanut butter.

3. Reduce speed to low, Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until just combined after each addition. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes.

4. Using a 1½-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 1½-inch apart. Press cookies with fork tines to flatten and create a cross-hatch pattern. Bake until golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. The cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Recipe from: Martha Stewart Living magazine

Issue: July 2006