Super easy. One bowl, one spoon. Mix. Scoop. Bake.

1 cup of creamy peanut butter (if you prefer to weigh your peanut butter so that you don’t get your measuring cups all messy, this equates to 256 grams of peanut butter)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup dry roasted and salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Using a medium mixing bowl, crack egg into bowl, and give it a rough stir to break it up. 

Add the peanut butter, sugar, baking soda, and salt. 

Stir the mixture with a sturdy spoon…wooden is probably best. You want to stir it until everything is mixed well together. It doesn’t take long. Maybe 20 strokes would do it.

Next, add the chocolate chips and peanuts and stir to incorporate.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, or one lined with parchment paper, scoop out the dough into cookie-sized dollops. If you have a 3/4 ounce ice cream scooper, this is the perfect size. Use it to scoop out the cookie dough. If not, use a tablespoon from your silverware drawer and roll the dough between your palms to make a ball about 1-1/4 inches in diameter. You can dampen your hands prior to rolling the balls so that less batter sticks to them.

You know you’re making the balls the right size if you end up with 20 to 24 and they are all the same size.

Arrange them on your cookie sheet with an inch of separation. You can bake two trays side by side in your oven, or on two separate racks.

Once you’ve placed the balls on the cookie sheet, press them down gently just a smidge. They will not rise or change shape much when you bake them, and you don’t want to bake them as balls or they won’t bake through.

Bake for a total of 12 minutes at 350˚F. After the first 8 minutes, shuffle the trays around to get an even bake. Switch front to back, side to side, etc. Then finish off with 4 more minutes of baking for a total of 12 minutes.

After the cookies are done, let them rest on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes. The cookies are quite fragile when they’re hot, and they need to cool well before trying to move them, or they will fall apart. Once cooled, they firm up well.

Brew some fresh coffee and you are ready for a treat.

Don