Moscow Co-Op’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pullman, WA, is 8 miles from Moscow, ID, and the Moscow Food Co-Op. It smells like the co-op in Bellingham, WA, where we lived for the first 6 years of our married life. So, I love it even more because it reconnects me with memories. In fact, the first time we went into the co-op we saw a box marked, "Lost and Found". It contained the typical hippie things...various BPA free water bottles, Birkenstock saddles, bike locks, t-shirts made of hemp, and to our delight--a recorder (the kind you play music on in 5th grade). It made me grin. 

Anyway, they make some awesome cookies! My favorite cookie is their moist, nutty, and chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. When I found the co-op's PDF cookbook on their website (which is NO LONGER THERE NOW!!), I quickly skimmed it for this dessert...and FOUND THEM! I danced around my living room like a young girl on Christmas morning. I put off making them since I knew it would be dangerous for my waistline...but the day came yesterday and I bought the whole wheat pastry flour at Winco in the bulk foods section. (I know it's not exactly co-op organic...but its cheaper and tastes the same.) Max, my 2-year-old, helped me to make these and he couldn't stop eating the chocolate chips out of the dough.

Today, I'll share with you the recipe. The whole wheat pastry flour gives them a different slightly earthy flavor (healthy-ish) which I really enjoy. But, these are not healthy.

Moscow Co-Op’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 5 dozen small cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks-- 1 cup)

1 1/2 cups peanut butter, fresh ground is best (smooth or crunchy--either works)

2 cups brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp baking soda

11/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (or more if you love chocolate)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl cream the sugar, butter, and peanut

butter until light and fluffy. (About 2 minutes on medium-high

speed.)

3. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

4. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until fully

incorporated.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips.

7. Scoop cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10

minutes.

Tip: We have found that fresh ground peanut butter works the best for these cookies as it seems to be less oily, if you are using peanut butter from a jar you may need to add up to 1/2 extra flour. If the cookie dough seems really oily, try baking just a few cookies at a time to see how they turn out, and add more flour if needed. (Or just mix up peanut butter really well if it's separated and get it to a consistent texture--that's what I did and it worked perfectly.)

These cookies are wonderful warm!