Birthday Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a chance to take my sister-in-law out for dinner and help her celebrate her birthday this weekend. It was so much fun going out, wandering about the city, and just having a small little celebration. I love celebrating as much as the next person, but it usually involves days upon days of prep work, cleaning, shopping, decorating, and more clean up. We have already had several events here this year and helped celebrate some monumental occasions.

Oh Ted, the ever shameless party animal.

We kicked off January right helping my mom celebrate 72 years with 72 mini cupcake trifles. 

I'd explain how to make these little masterpieces but after delving into three different cake batters, three fillings, and three different buttercreams, I just figure I lost you after three different cake batters.  I won't dare scare you with the amount of dish washing required.

February rolled around and so did the decade ticker for my sister.  Hey, it's not everyday your younger sister turns 40 and you stay 39. It's a complicated algorithm I'm working on the patent for at the moment. 

March stormed in and it was birthday after birthday including helping "Beer" and "Old Spice" (my brother-in-law and dad) whoop it up in grand style. By-the-way, "Beer" said his beer cupcakes were the best cupcakes ever and demands I make them again soon for him, so when that happens I will write down the recipe so I can actually share it.

Today I was supposed to be on vacation (which has been rescheduled for the third time already) but instead I'm in my office working.  Just sitting here daydreaming about when I'll get to take off and lace up my hiking boots up and about why I didn't hold back some of those cookies for myself. Good thing there is still plenty of time left this month to fix both. 

Birthday Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pretzels and Peanuts

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

10 tablespoons butter (1 stick + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup roasted and salted peanut halves

3/4 cup sourdough pretzels, crushed into pieces

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and mix well. Stir in the vanilla.  Turn mixer off and add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Fold in chocolate chips, peanuts, and pretzel bits. 

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat and scoop 1 1/4-ounce mounds (small golf-ball size) of dough onto baking sheet a couple inches apart (about 12 per sheet). Bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown but still soft. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. Repeat with remaining dough.

Yield: 25-30 3-inch cookies

Enjoy,

Gina

Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I don't go tossing around the word "Ultimate" in recipe titles all willy nilly for a couple of reasons. One reason being that most recipes I come across with the word ultimate in the title are just recipes on "roids", meaning let's take a pretty basic recipe and throw in every item in the pantry and called it ultimate. Sometimes this produces an epic recipe, sometimes an epic calorie bomb with no flavor being a stand out. Another reason I shy away from the word ultimate is because it comes with the negative connotation that I'm just trying to be an attention whore and you all know by now how much I dislike that.  (Feel free to quit laughing at any point so we can get on with the recipe.)

In an ideal world when I conjure up the word "Ultimate", I imagine that it means a perfect balance between objects, a complete composed symphony of flavors, textures, sweetness, saltiness and aaahhh (because umami is so yesterday.)

Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup salted crispy peanuts, chopped into large pieces (I buy mine at an Asian grocery store, but any salty peanuts will work.)

Heat an oven to 350 degrees F.

To a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer add the butter, oil, and peanut butter, mix for a minute until combined.  Add the sugar and egg and mix until combined.  Add the flour, cocoa, vanilla and salt and mix until combined.  Stir in the peanuts.

Scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat, parchment or buttered.  I use a medium sized cookie scoop that holds 2 tablespoons of dough.  If you use a spoon you are looking for golf ball sized balls. (Why does the word balls make me giggle?)

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  You just want the cookies set in the middle.  Let cool.

Note:  I didn't flatten the balls prior to placing them in the oven and since I wanted to stack them for a photo I just pressed them a bit when they came out of the oven to give them a flat top.  Just be sure your glass is heat resistant.

Makes 24 cookies.

I placed a photo of these on my FB going into the oven and within 15 minutes I had my brother and niece knocking on my door for samples.  Here is a direct quote from my brother "Probably the best cookie I ever had." So now you know why I have complete confidence in naming these cookies Ultimate Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies. 

Enjoy,

Gina