Peanut Butter-Only & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sooo.. I had just moved into our new place and I desperately needed to bake. We had made about two store runs, one to Costco and one to the base's Commissary... Needless to say I hadn't bought any butter yet. I don't particularly put butter in or on anything unless it calls for it in a cookie so I was postponing the inevitable. Or did I have to?

Our home was fairly bare, All of our brand new appliances and pans and really, everything, was packed up in boxes. Stuck in a truck somewhere up the coast. I moved with a small frying pan, a pot, a baking sheet, a spatula, two towels, and an oven mitt. I guess it was all I needed because these cookies were absolutely delicious and they did not require butter. Peanut butter, yes.

At Costco I picked up two Skippy's jars of peanut butter because I had somewhat of a craving for the stuff for about a month. I had some chocolate chips and basic baking necessities. Minus the butter... I searched online and found this recipe, exactly what I needed! Except that I had to mix it all by hand and I really wanted to make that go as smoothly as possible. So I melted the peanut butter and oh! How easier that made mixing! These cookies were so incredibly soft and flavorful. Peanut butter and chocolate, could a girl ever ask for more? And to top it off, the next day they were even better. Believe me, I do not say that very often. I have a belief that a cookie is best right out of the oven, slightly underdone and gooey. But these, oh these cookies...

So here's the ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (or any other nut butter)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Melt the peanut butter in a saucepan (or in my case a frying pan). In a bowl combine the sugars and baking soda, stir in the melted peanut butter until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Then add vanilla, followed by flour. When ingredients are well combined, stir in the chocolate.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and slightly flatten. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from Joanne Bruno's Recipe