Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

I am always looking for the perfect cookie. I don't like them crunchy or doughy in the middle. Whether it's snickerdoodles or peanut butter .. I like them to stay soft out of the oven. I never had much success before I started this blog but I have begun to develop some skills thankfully. These cookies are a MUST-MAKE for any occasion. They are very simple and easy to make, especially if you have a stand mixer. This was the very first recipe I used my Kitchen Aid mixer for!!

Such a beautiful sight huh!? Please excuse the background where my outlet cover is missing. I was in the midst of painting my kitchen. Can we say embarassing! You can view how that went here on my other blog.

Anyways, the cookies turned out fantastic despite dinner that was a failure (no need to blog that). I actually forgot the shortening even though I had it set out .. and Annie explicitly mentions it in her blog post (link below). I should really think about re-naming this blog to something like "Kelly forgets another ingredient." That just doesn't have a nice ring to it though. I will for sure make another batch soon with the shortening to see if I can taste the difference. We will call these my "experimental" peanut butter cookies. Oh and I also replaced honey with karo light syrup because that is what I had on hand (and Google said I could substitute it).

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally Taste of Home

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1.5 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I accidentally omitted this)

4 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup light corn syrup (or honey)

2 large eggs

sugar, for rolling dough

In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside. Cream together shortening, butter, peanut butter and syrup (or honey). Mix in eggs one at a time being sure to incorporate well before adding the second. With mixer on lowest speed, slowly add in dry mixture little by little until blended well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1-1.5 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place onto greased cookie sheets and slightly flatten with fork to make a cross-section design (see original recipe link for picture). The dough rises a bit and the cookies stay very thick so the design won't stay but it's to help them shape a little. Bake for 10-12 minutes until they are golden. Since they are peanut butter cookies they don't change color too much so don't over-cook them. Allow them to cook for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling completely. Serve with cold milk for best results! Store in airtight container.