Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Insomnia is for baking. At least, that is one of the few useful things I can do when I can't sleep at night. I can't really work on my thesis or think critically at this point in the night. The only reasonable thing to do at 2am is bake. It doesn't disturb anyone sleeping and it provides me with something creative to do. Oh, yeah... it also gives me something delicious to eat!

Tonight I wanted peanut butter. I usually just eat a spoonful of peanut butter or put it on a banana, but I was bored so I decided to make cookies. I did a search on Google for "soft peanut butter cookies" and this is the first recipe I read through that I liked the sound of. They turned out pretty well! Very soft with a nice peanut butter flavor that isn't too strong or too weak. The recipe is also very easy to follow.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

Cream together the butters, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until well combined.

Roll the dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet. The size of the dough balls depends on how big you want the cookies. I tend to make smaller cookies. Use a fork dipped in flour to make a criss-cross pattern on the cookie to press them down. This allows the cookie to bake evenly!

Bake the cookies at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. The edges didn't seem to brown for me, so I just baked them for 10 minutes. The cookie is fully baked when the bottom turns brown, but since the cookies are so soft, it is hard to check for browning.

Don't forget the milk!