5 Ingredients: Simple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies were baked as a last minute treat the other night because I was laying in bed and was craving chocolate. So, we both ended up in the kitchen to whip up a batch of these peanut butter chocolate chip beauties just for me because the wife is on a low-gi diet. Although we did whip up a batch of cookies for her last week which we called a biscotti of sorts so she’s had her cookie fix.

Typically whenever chocolate cravings start I want to reach for something like my fudgy brownies but I didn’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. So peanut butter chocolate chip cookies was what I had set out to make although my cowboy quickie cookies did come to mind too. I do like thick chewy peanut butter cookies so I tend to make them chunky. I was eating hot, fresh from the oven soft, chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with a glass of cold  milk faster than you can say, homemade.

Ok, well not that fast but peanut butter cookies are probably the easiest cookie you could ever make. I prefer homemade cookies vs store bought cookies any day of the week. It’s a no-fail recipe and a cookie recipe that you can include the kids with when baking in the kitchen.

What is Peanut Butter?

Good question because as common as peanut butter (a.k. a. monkey butter in world war 2) may be to most in North America, UK, Netherlands and parts of Asia some might not have a clue what it is.

Peanut butter depending on what brand you purchase essentially is crushed up roasted peanuts, salt and other ingredients which may include a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. According to wiki it is high in trans fatty acids and can potentially cause health problems such as heart disease and stroke. All the reason to enjoy it in moderation.

As you can see in the picture of peanut butter and roasted peanuts from 2 different companies that they also in fact have oils added to them with  soybean oil, sugar and corn dextrin in the peanut butter. If you shop around you can purchase all-natural peanut butter in the organic section of your grocery store and in health food stores.

Peanut butter does have nutrients according to the Kraft brand label such as vitamin E, vitamin B3 Niacin, Folate and Magnesium. It’s also low in saturated fats and trans fat-free. We enjoy Kraft peanut butter amongst the others we have tried in our home. Kraft Peanut Butter even has an easy peanut butter recipe on the side of the container very similar to mine except I use baking powder, add in chocolate chips and make a quick homemade peanut butter.

How To Make Home-made Peanut Butter?

It takes mere seconds to grind up fresh roasted peanuts in the food processor to make fresh homemade peanut butter which I do once in a while. I start with 1.5 cups of natural peanuts (or whatever peanuts I have) roasted in the oven for 4-6  minutes (be careful they don’t burn, move them about every so often), cool for 2-5 minutes in the refrigerator (or freezer for faster results, heck if it’s winter leave it out on the front porch covered), tablespoon of sugar (depending on how sweet you want it), pinch of salt and tablespoon+ of vegetable, canola or peanut oil. I’ve also used almond oil. I’m hopefully going to be trying my hand at making almond butter and cashew butter in the future.

I don’t tend to make too much at once as it spoils easily. I make as much as I need for a recipe or for a day or so of lunches and snacks as I just don’t eat enough to warrant large quantities of it. It may also be cheaper than buying peanut butter from the shops as the price the past couple of years has gone through the roof. I’ve seen 1kg of peanut butter as much as $7.99 which is a far cry from the $1.99 it used to be on sale a few years back.

We picked up a couple of jars on sale when our mates came round for the summer although the kids didn’t end up eating it so now we have some to use up. My mother would also make her own homemade peanut butter as we simply didn’t fancy the store-bought kind although we didn’t have it often. It’s also healthier as there won’t be any preservatives.

Unfortunately I didn’t have all-natural peanuts for this recipe so I used what I had on hand. If you want all natural peanuts you can get them straight from the shell or in bulk where the peanut has had nothing done to it ie: processed or preservatives added.

Peanut Butter Sandwiches

There are those people though that  may not have heard of peanut butter before and it’s called for in a recipe they are trying to make. Peanut butter is like a paste or a spread as I prefer to call it and can be used in many recipes or sauces but traditionally it’s in the pantry to satisfy the peanut butter sandwich craving when it hits.

Not only kids fancy peanut butter though… so do adults. Hands up, wherever you are. My wife is one of the adults and has gone as far as making the following PB sandwiches in the past…..

• Peanut butter and Jam sandwich
• Peanut butter, Jam and Banana sandwich
• Peanut butter, Banana and Nutella sandwich
• Peanut butter, Banana and raisins sandwich
• Peanut butter,bacon and jelly sandwich

I know what you are thinking and believe me I had to turn away sometimes as she enjoyed these and yes I’ve tried them all only because she asked nicely.That and I made her try Marmite on toast which she despises ha. The best one of them all that I enjoyed was the peanut butter, banana and Nutella sandwich. There’s something about the chocolate taste that brings the entire sandwich together especially when we make it a grilled sandwich.

Peanut Allergy

Peanut butter cookies are one of those old-fashioned cookies that end up in every parents kitchen because kids dig peanut butter. That is unless you have a peanut allergy in your home. Many schools have even banned parents from sending any form of product with peanuts due to children having allergies  which could cause them to go into  anaphylactic shock. Protecting the children is very important especially in life threatening situations like this could become.

If you want to make a bar cookie recipe from the batter I think peanut butter chocolate chip bars would be a hit. I didn’t add too much sugar to the cookie batter because I added the chocolate chips but you can add more if you like a really sweet cookie. Some other ways to jazz up this cookie would be to add raisins, coconut, cocoa, mini M&M’s or some chunks of roasted peanuts if you wanted a crunchy texture cookie. With these cookies make sure you space them apart as they tend to spread.  I take them from the baking sheet about 1 minute after they have rested and move to a cooling rack.

Tools

• A bowl
• Measuring Cups
• Cookie Sheet
• Spatula
• Food Processor to make homemade peanut butter

Time

• Prep Time : 15-20 minutes less if you don’t make your own peanut butter
• Cook Time: 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees

5 Ingredients For Cookies

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 cup of milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup of  homemade peanut butter- see recipe up top (or commercial grade)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar

Making Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Add the peanut butter to the bowl and mix in the sugar
• Add in your baking powder and egg, mix to combine
• Add in your chocolate chips and mix
• Scoop enough to make a cookie onto a baking sheet with parchment paper
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 5-7 minutes
• Don’t over-cook or they will be crunchy. I tend to under-cook as they continue cooking once you take them out from the oven.

I hope you enjoy these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies as much as I do with a cold glass of milk or a cuppa tea or coffee. If you fancy adding your own cookie ingredients to the peanut butter base there’s no harm in trying. I know making cookies is like making memories and that’s what we aim to do in the CBB kitchen so I hope you can take this recipe and make it your own memory.

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