Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and a Happy New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2011, everyone!

Raise your hand if you have had the same exact goal(s) on your New Years resolution list for over 5 years.

I know you’re all silently raising your hands, and it’s okay. We’ve all been there.

To avoid ridiculously general goals such as  “be healthier” and “get more organized” (I’m still working on that), I’ve decided to have weekly/daily resolutions alongside my annual resolutions. Long-term goals are impossible without short-term goals. Really, using this method helped me accomplish all of my goals last year (a flat-out miracle if you personally know me).

For example, if your long-term goal is to become a doctor (God help me), you first have to do well in college. In order to do well in college, you have to stop having a social life study, eat, and sleep well. In order to study well, you have to understand the concepts of what you’re studying, which may require you to read more or stay after class to ask questions. In order to sleep well, you have to learn to organize your time so that you don’t fall asleep at 2:30 AM using your book as a pillow after wasting hours watching TV. And so on.

Think of it as a Russian babushka doll… without the little babushka dolls inside the big babushka dolls, the big babushka doll would be hollow and unfulfilled.

…It sounded really clever in my head, I swear.

And please ignore the fact that my little babushka doll drawings look like bowling pins with lipstick painted on them.

But I digress. One of my resolutions for this year is to become more blog-active and just have fun with the creativity of the blog. Therefore, my resolution for today is to share an amazing chewy peanut butter chocolate chip/chunk recipe with you! For my very first recipe of the brand new year, I thought this recipe would be perfect.

Chewiness? Check.

Peanut butter? Check.

Chocolate? Check.

Delicious? Double Triple check.

These cookies are actually supposed to be smaller and thicker–they weren’t supposed to spread so much. I know this because I have made this recipe over 10 times since I discovered them. Frankly, I think I prefer them smaller and thicker, because that way the peanut butter is really infused with all the chocolate…mmm. I think I also needed to add more chocolate.

I’m fairly certain the cookies spread more than usual because:
a) I accidentally melted the butter instead of softening it
b) I forgot to place a baking sheet on the top rack so the cookies don’t get heated too fast (this is just a little trick I normally like to do when I find that the cookies spread too quickly)
c) I added a little too much liquid. I used an extra large egg instead of a large one, and I incorporated some molasses into the recipe that wasn’t originally part of the recipe.
d) I halved the recipe and some recipes tend to change when halved or doubled, so maybe you shouldn’t.

At least that’s what I think caused them to spread. I don’t really have a clue what I’m talking about.

Either ways, these cookies still tasted great and were totally photogenic!

Make a batch of these cookies and love me forever and ever and ever. Then promptly send me some.

Chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from All Recipes)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (or honey + water if you don’t have any)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (or 3 – 4 teaspoons of baking powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

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