SALTED CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
These cookies have a deeper richness when baked with peanut butter that’s made with only peanuts (ideally roasted) and salt. Be sure to get the salted variety; unsalted can be bland at best and beany at worst.
Peanut butter spreads loaded with extra sweeteners, fats and stabilizers may give you more consistent results but lack the earthy nuttiness of the pure stuff. Trader Joe’s crunchy salted makes dough balls that hold their shape well and Whole Food’s 365 crunchy has a nice proportion of chopped nuts. Try those or whichever you like enough to eat straight out of the jar.
1 tablespoon salted butter, room temperature
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup natural chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
Coarse sea salt, such as kosher, Maldon or fleur de sel, for sprinkling
½ cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Smash and mix the butter into the brown sugar with a wooden spoon in a bowl until the butter is no longer visible and the sugar resembles wet sand. Add the peanut butter, vanilla and egg and mix until well combined. Lift the spoon out of the dough. If the dough drips off in globs, refrigerate or freeze it until stiff. Cold dough will bake into taller cookies too.
Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing 1½ inches apart. Sprinkle the tops with salt and then with peanuts.
Bake one sheet at a time until darker brown around the edges and dry on top, 9 to 11 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets on a rack.
Makes about 4½ dozen cookies.
Variations
Vegan peanut butter cookies: Mix 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds with 1 tablespoon cold water. Let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes. Substitute coconut oil for the butter and the flax mixture for the egg. Proceed as above.
PB&J sandwich cookies: Spread a thin layer of thick jam on half the cookies and sandwich with the others.
Peanut butter and salted caramel ice cream sandwiches: Sandwich small scoops of salted caramel ice cream between cookies and freeze until firm.