The PERFECT Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I set a personal challenge to you: make the following recipe and tell me these are not the BEST peanut butter cookie you have EVER tasted. That is how strongly I feel about this recipe.

I stumbled upon it about a year and a half ago when Judah and I had first started dating. AMAZING! Check 'em out.

Yes please!

M&M Peanut Butter Cookies from Six Sister's Stuff
     2 sticks butter
     1 cup brown sugar
     1 cup granulated sugar
     2 eggs
     1.5 cups creamy peanut butter (15 oz. container)
     2.5 cups all purpose flour
     1 tsp baking soda
     1 tsp vanilla extract
     1 medium sized bag of m&m's, or chocolate chips

If you have a mixer, I highly recommend using that, otherwise you may want to slightly melt the butter and peanut butter to aid the mixing process. Add ingredients, in order, until a smooth, creamy dough forms. I use a tablespoon to measure out my cookies when I bake them, and that size is perfect for this recipe. The dough won't puddle out, so you can place them closer together on the tray than normal cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They should look slightly underdone. Allow to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

You can see I use a tablespoon and a knife to transfer the dough

This is how they look before baking:

And as you can see they hardly spread out during baking!

These cookies freeze wonderfully! If you overcook them and they dry out, they obviously don't taste as good, fresh or frozen. Definitely err on the side of taking them out too early than leaving them in too long. If you accomplish that, then even when frozen, this cookies will be delicious and soft!

I've already ate two during the writing of this post. I will warn they can be highly addicting! But I find that usually after three I am satisfied and can move on :)

I know that usually the type of peanut butter you use can make a difference with taste and texture in baked goods. But I have used JIF, the type of natural peanut butter that doesn't need to be refridgerated and the kind that does in this recipe and they all have tasted great and have had the same texture! You could substitute crunchy peanut butter if you wanted, but you'd have to add a significant amount more to make up for the lack of moisture. You'd be better off placing some roasted peanuts in a food processor and adding the bits to the recipe along with the m&m's or chocolate chips than using crunchy peanut butter instead.

Finally I will leave you with this adorable picture I saw on Facebook this morning:

Guinea pig split anyone? Awwww.... And yes, we are still are on baby watch! I feel like any day now Maple will have her little babies, but then again I have been saying that for at least a week now. One day I will eventually be right! ;)

Readers: What's your favorite type of cookie? Do you have a go-to recipe you use every time?