Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

As you can probably tell, I'm somewhat of a choc-a-holic.  I'm also a cookie-holic and more recently a peanut butter-holic. (I think I mentioned previously that it's something I never used to like but now can't seem to get enough of) Hence these cookies. They are from the hummingbird bakery cookbook and taste absolutely amazing. Just for fun, I made giant sized cookies and a few 'normal' sized ones as well.

adding peanut butter

I used an ice cream scoop

fresh from the oven

My giant cookie :)

Love how the chocolate bits melted... yum :)

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g caster sugar

200g light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

240g crunchy peanut butter

340g plain flour

2 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

75g dark chocolate, chopped

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.
• Beat in the vanilla extract and peanut butter.
• Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until a smooth dough is formed.
• Stir in the chocolate until evenly dispersed.
• Using an ice cream scoop (or spoon), place even sized balls of cookie dough on a lined baking tray.
• Make sure the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat. (mine took about 15-18 minutes for the large ones)
• Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.