No Fuss Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

There are 1,700,000 results online for chocolate chip peanut butter cookie recipes, but just humor me for a few minutes. I like these because they aren't as fussy as the traditional cookie. No rolling into balls, stamping with a crosshatch on top, or refrigerating for hours. The other night I wanted cookies; like a needed them five minutes ago type of craving. I went ahead and whipped these up. The dough sat in the fridge for 30 minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, and the cookies turned out fine. They didn't spread into flat crispy cookies. They were fluffy and tender with a nice crust on the bottom. Truly delicious, super easy, and the best part is freezing half of the dough to microwave an individual cookie for yourself whenever you need a sweet treat! Give these a try the next time you're craving peanut butter and chocolate.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

     makes 24 cookies, recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc.

• 1/2 cup Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Truvia Baking Blend, or 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1-1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1 whole Egg
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• teeny dash of cinnamon
• about 1/2 cup chocolate chips, I didn't measure

In a stand mixer (a hand mixer will also work) cream together your room temperature butter, the sugars, and the peanut butter. Start on low speed and work up to medium until mixture is fluffy, just takes a couple minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Sift together all of the dry ingredients, you can also use a whisk to break up any lumps. Turn the mixer to low, dump in half of the flour mixture and when it's just almost combined dump in the rest. Mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Turn the mixture off and dump in the chocolate chips. Use a spatula to fold the chocolate chips in and scrape the bottom of the bowl. Put the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment. Use a cookie scoop to form your dough into cookies. I baked about a dozen and froze the other half of the dough. Do not flatten these out, they will spread slightly. Bake for 9 minutes, or until the cookies start to turn golden. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then cool completely on a cooling rack. Serve with a cold glass of milk and enjoy!

Per cookie: 135 calories, 13 grams of carbs, 8 grams of fat, 2 grams of protein. These are cookies, they are not low calorie or any type of health food. Sometimes we all need a treat. Everything in moderation! Definitely try freezing these! Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined plate and freeze, then transfer into a Ziploc. When you need a cookie take a ball of the dough and place it in a mug or ramekin, and microwave for about 30-40 seconds. A hot gooey single serve cookie!