Our family LOVES peanut butter and chocolate. It is one of our favorite combos, and is sure to disappear quickly. It is a particular favorite of my youngest son, shown below:). I made these Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies for one of our cookie Fridays and with as quickly as they were gone, I think everyone else loved them too.
I used 2 of my favorite kitchen appliances for this recipe, my Bosch and my Nutrimill. These are a partial wheat cookie, so of course the wheat was ground in my grain mill. The other is my faithful Bosch mixer. Y'all, it is such a great mixer. You can follow the link above to find out why I love it so much.
Now, the wheat I used was a soft winter wheat, or a whole wheat pastry flour. It is lower in protein and perfect for cookies and cakes. A flour higher in protein will not give as tender of a crumb as the pastry flour will. I have been buying my flour from Farm Fresh Wheat, a family owned farm out of central Washington and absolutely love their wheat.
So, start with your butter. It should be softened to work with.
Next is your peanut butter and sugar. Beat all until they are light and fluffy.
Add in your eggs and vanilla.
This view shows how light and fluffy the butter mixture should be.
Here we are after the addition of the eggs and vanilla. Once the eggs are added, you don't want to over mix. So, only mix to combine. In the Bosch it only takes a few seconds.
Scrape the bowl down, which is really simple with the Bosch bowl scraper set. Then comes the flour mix.
I used a chocolate bar I had and chopped it into large chunks.
I was making these cookies in the morning, not baking until the afternoon, so I scooped them all onto my baking sheet, side by side and threw them in the fridge. This is my favorite sized cookie scoop. The cookies shown in the photo of my son above are from this size though.
Here are the cookies, prepped and ready to bake.
And here is the final product. We like our cookies, really soft in our house, so this doneness is perfect for us!
With a little more time on my hands than normal, I have been playing around with my food photography a little more. One of my favorite food photography types are splash shots. I just love them!! We ALWAYS dunk our peanut butter cookies in milk, so this was the thought behind this shot.
I loved this one too, after the cookie had hit! Isn't there something kind of fascinating about this!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup peanut butter you can use chunky or creamy. I used creamy, as that is what my kids like.
- 1 cup brown sugar I love to use dark brown sugar here, but if you prefer light brown, us it!
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½-2 cups chocolate chunks or chips I prefer semi sweet or dark chocolate, but use whatever type of chocolate you are into.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.In small bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.Add butter and sugars to mixing bowl. I used my Bosch mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer or even mix by hand (it's a great workout). Mix on medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. At this point, only mix until it comes together. Add dry ingredients and mix again. Same thing here, only mix to combine. It is important not to over mix, this will produce tough baked goods. On my stand mixer, it took about 5 seconds. Last up is the chocolate. Make sure and mix until it is evenly distributed. I like to refrigerate this dough for about 30 minutes to an hour. Scoop cookies onto baking sheet. I baked mine in a 3x4 pattern. 3 width wise, 4 lengthwise. For the pans not ready to go in the oven, place them in the fridge and have them wait their turn.I like my cookies very soft, so I bake mine about 8-10 minutes. I look for coloring on the edges. As soon as it is lightly browned, they are ready for me. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. With a metal spatula carefully remove from pan, and if you can stand to not eat them all right away, allow them to cool. Now, sit back and enjoy. These cookies are certainly worth it!
Anneke De Clerk says
Love your action photos!
admin says
Thank you so much! They were pretty fun to take!