Melt in your Mouth Peanut Butter Cookies

I know what you're thinking... yeah, right!  Peanut butter cookies can't melt in your mouth!  It's against their DNA.  They're made to be soaked in milk and STILL scratch your throat on the way down to your belly.

But, NOPE!  Not these! These babies literally melt in your mouth.  Even after they've cooled.  Even the next day.  They're delicious!!!

I found these on Pinterest, because with all the crunchy peanut butter cookie recipes out there, I'm always looking for a better recipe.  This, combined with the fact that Thomas doesn't really like peanut butter cookies (so I don't fix them often), means that I rarely make the same recipe twice.  But don't get me wrong.  I LOVE peanut butter cookies.  Like, really, L-O-V-E!

And usually, I'm not a fan of chocolate chips in my peanut butter cookies because it just distracts from the peanut buttery goodness.  But the photos on Averie Cooks (where the original recipe came from) convinced me that the chocolate was worth it in these cookies.  And she's got like a billion mouth-watering, melty goodness pictures with the recipe.  You should really go look at them.  All you have to do is click here to be transported to cookie-photo bliss.

However, I did not have the delicious looking chocolate chunks she used when I wanted to whip this recipe up, so I used mini semi-sweet chips.  And I love these cookies.  But now I'm wishing I had kept some without chocolate chips because I'm dying to know what they taste like without the chocolatey distraction.  But, there is definitely a next time for these cookies.  I will make them again.  Which, obviously, is saying a lot about them!

So, here you go!

Melt in your Mouth Peanut Butter Cookies
(This recipe is closely adapted from Averie Cooks.)

Yield: 16 medium cookies (I made mine smaller, and it yielded about 24.)

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips may be substituted)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and stir until well-combined and the sugar is fully incorporated.

Add the baking soda and beat to incorporate. Stir in chocolate; don't overmix. Transfer dough to airtight container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 5 days, before baking.

Preheat oven to 350F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment; set aside. Using a cookie scoop or your hands (which is what I had to do), form the dough into balls and space about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten the dough a little before popping them into the oven.

Bake for 8 to10 minutes, until edges are set and tops are barely set, even if slightly underbaked in the center. She mentioned to make sure you don't bake them over 10 minutes so that they don't get crunchy. So I took mine out between 8 and 9 minutes, and they were perfect. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

YUM YUM!!! These things are delicious!