Recipe - Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

It's recipe time again!! *ok, down Missy...DOWN!*. I've been cooking up such a storm these last few day that I am feeling just free and lively. Good food, home-made, knowing that it's as low in processed stuffs as possible and that it's all gluten free *yum*.

Today comes cookies! I don't bake cookies too often because of 2 reasons really and they both tie into each other... cookies are a food I can not resist even if my life depended on it there for reason 2 for not making cookies too often is the fact that it has 1 or 2 full sticks of butter in them some where. 1 or 2 sticks of butter + no control = uhoh + gone in 24 to 48hrs... not a good combo!

But this is birthday weekend.... 4days of it and although hubby doesn't have to eat gluten free, an entire batch of cookies is still too much for 1 person so I took advantage of making a batch of my favourites. Believe it or not though, I was up until 1am making these. *shrug* strange schedule I guess. And would you believe it, this batch still didn't last longer then 48hrs. I had the last 3 this morning.... ummm is there such a thing as breakfast dessert??

Tip #1 - Having not wanted to wait for cookies to cool at midnight when making these, I choose to switch between my silicon lined baking sheet and a dark non-stick sheet. This brought to light a tip to share. If you use a light pan or lined pan such as I started with, the directions will work just fine below. However, if you use a dark non-stick pan you will want to turn down the heat a bit, lower the baking time and keep an eye on them. I don't know what does it exactly besides perhaps that dark colours cause heat to stay better but what ever it is, I just barely saved my 2 batch of baked cookies from the really done to over done mark by seconds.

Ingredients
 ♥ 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

 ♥ 1 tsp baking powder
 ♥ 1 1/2 sticks butter at room temp

 ♥ 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky is up to you)

 ♥ 1/2 cup granulated sugar

 ♥ 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

 ♥ 1 large egg

 ♥ 1 tsp vanilla

 ♥ 1/2 to 1 cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

Directions
This is a fairly straight forward recipe. Preheat oven to 180c (360f) (see tip#1). In a large mixing bowl put both sugars, peanut butter and butter and with a mixer, mix until well combined and has turned to a light brown colour.

Add eggs and vanilla and give another quick mix to combine and return to it's light brown colour.

Now by hand and I suggest with a wooden spoon, add realizes just now that she didn't add her baking powder baking powder and flour to the peanut butter mixture and combine well. I tend to bounce depending on the time of day and what kind of weather it is as to how much flour I seem to use each time I make this. This time it was 1 1/2 cups, other times it is as much as 2 cups. Your looking for a batter that will stick to your spoon and stay together when placed on your cookie sheet but you will not get to a good batter like gluten filled cookies will have in order to make the old fashioned fork marks I'm afraid. I've tried a number of times and no go... the batter just doesn't hold up to it.

Final stage to batter, add your chocolate chips. I use dark chocolate chips and this one if up to you. Do you want a really load peanut butter cookie? Add 1 cup or more. Want a subtle hint of chocolate? Add a 1/2 cup. Mix with your spoon. 

Ditch the wooden mixing spoon and grab yourself 2 normal every day teaspoons like you'd eat your bowl of cereal in the morning with or stir your coffee (and no I'm not talking about the little itty bitty spoons meant for tea time!). Take a rounded spoonful of batter and transfer it to your baking sheet using the 2nd spoon to remove the batter from the first, leave 2 inches of room all around each spoonful as these cookies will spread out as they cook.

Bake for 15minutes for a light coloured pan or silicone lined pan. Remove from oven and let rest at least 5minutes. You NEED to let them rest in order to reclaim their firmness or you'll end up with peanut butter sand on your cookie sheet instead of a nice round cookie in your bowl.

Once cooled, transfer to some paper towels to sit until the next batch is ready. Store in an air-tight container for up to 4days (if they last that long!).