The Perfect Cookie

I discovered this recipe a few years back and it immediately became my husbands and my favorite cookie. This is my go-to cookie recipe – it has never failed me. It’s your basic chocolate chip cookie melded together with oatmeal and peanut butter. OOoey gooey melted chocolatey deliciousness, barely crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside! Let’s get started because you’re gonna want to get baking…

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup rolled oats

2 cups (or 1-12 oz bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing until each is fully incorporated. On low-speed, mix (or stir) in peanut butter and vanilla until well blended.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Stir (or mix on low-speed) into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet. (I always use my stoneware cookie sheet for cookies because it is virtually impossible to over-cook them, but any ol’ cookie sheet will work just fine).

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges just start to brown. The centers will still look undercooked but they will continue cooking after you take them out of the oven. Let rest on your cookie sheet for five minutes before transferring onto your cooling rack. If you are using a stoneware cookie sheet or a sheet that is not non-stick, I find that a thin metal spatula is ideal for removing my cookies. The plastic or silicone spatulas seem to alter the perfect shape of your cookie by pushing on it rather than sliding straight under it.

Most cookie doughs freeze beautifully so I will almost always try to only bake 1 dozen and freeze the rest. To do this, just scoop out your cookies onto your sheet as you normally would, except this time you can put them super close together so they all fit on one sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2 or more hours. Remove from cookie sheet and place in a resealable plastic freezer bag. This way, whenever you have a chocolate craving, just pop a few on a cookie sheet and in 10 minutes you have dessert. This also keeps you from eating the entire batch in one sitting.  I have also been known to heat up a pan in the summer time during a chocolate emergency and cook the cookies right on my stove-top.  Cooks up in just a few minutes and tastes just as yummy.  They definitely don’t look very pretty since you have to flip them and press them down with your spatula but it does the trick when I don’t want to wait for my oven to preheat.

Adapted from allrecipes.com: Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies