It’s Minimal Monday again, and you know what that means— a super easy recipe to start off the week in yummy style.  I made these cookies as a follow up to my popular Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, the ones I fell in love with exactly 5 Minimal Mondays ago.  Today I made the same cookie, with peanut butter.  I’m equally wild about these.

There’s never been a cookie that’s easier to put together.  Just whisk the egg, sugar and baking soda with the peanut butter, and fold in the chips.  You will always have the ingredients on hand, they bake up soft and rich with pb and chocolate, and they freeze perfectly.  What more could you ask of one little cookie?

Be aware — after you mix up the batter you’re going to freak out because it looks just like a bowl of peanut butter with some chips thrown in. But keep the faith — scoop it out, flatten each ball slightly, and bake them up. You’re going to get some delicious cookies, and I know I said it before but I’ll say it again…I don’t think I’ll ever bother making regular chocolate chip cookies anymore, I don’t see the point.  These have the all the good qualities and none of the hassle.

If you’re looking for crunchy cookies, these aren’t for you.  But if the idea of soft, pillowy cookies with lots of peanut flavor and plenty of chocolate presence appeals to you, I know you’ll be pleased.  And for those of you who eat gluten free, I think these are a nice option without all the complicated gluten free products.

Because these are so simple, it’s the details that are going to be the key to success, so I list a series of tips at the end of the post.  Those tips hold for other baking projects as well…is your oven calibrated to the right temperature?  Do you always measure your ingredients in the correct type of measuring cups?  Do you pay attention to the size of your eggs?  It’s all important stuff when it comes to baking.

Tips for success:

1. Make sure you use a large egg.  Since most recipes call for large eggs as the default size, that’s the size I always buy, so there’s never a question.

2. Measure the peanut butter in a dry ingredients measuring cup, not a liquid cup.  (Liquid measuring cups are the ones made out of clear plastic or glass, with measuring lines on the side.) Make sure you get a full cup of peanut butter, I know it’s messy.

3. Don’t forget the baking soda.

4. Do make sure you pack your brown sugar into the measuring cup.

5. Don’t get greedy and use more than 1 cup of chocolate chips or the cookies will not hold together.

6. Do not make these cookies too large, or they will not hold together.  Use the 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop, or a tablespoon and they should be about the size of a walnut.  If you make them smaller, be sure to bake them for less time.

7. Be sure to flatten the scoops of dough slightly  for even baking.  Dampen the back of a spoon or knife before you flatten to prevent sticking.

8. Food stylist’s trick: After you flatten the cookies, stick a few extra chocolate chips in cookies that don’t have any chips showing on top — you’ll get that perfect chocolate chip cookie look after they’re baked.

9. Make sure your oven is at 350F when you put the cookies in.  I keep a small, inexpensive oven thermometer in my oven at all times so I can be sure.

10. Let the cookies cool briefly on the cookie sheet so they can firm up.  They will be fragile when warm, so handle them carefully.

That’s it, you should be good to go!