Cook Loose

You can do the recipe on the back of the bag (assuming you bought Nestles®) or you can make mine, which I think are a bit better. In either case you are 20 minutes away from MUCH better cookies than you will ever get from the store...or even Mrs. Fields®

This recipe makes one dozen big cookies

• 1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 Cup (1 stick) of softened butter (this means butter at room temperature but NOT melted)
• 1/4 Cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar, packed into the measuring cup
• 1/2 Cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 Cup chopped nuts (I like walnuts, but pecans are good too)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a bowl mix the flour, soda and salt, either sifting together or I use a whisk, just to make sure the soda and the salt are evenly distributed in the flour.

In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer put in the butter, peanut butter, and the two sugars and mix on medium for a couple of minutes. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Do it again. This is called creaming the butter and what happens is the sugar pokes little bubbles into the fat and also gets surrounded by the fat so you end up with a fluffy base to add your flour too. Skip this step and you have rocks. Tasty rocks, but rocks. Scrape the bowl again. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on medium until the liquid is part of the batter. Turn off the mixer, add half the flour and then turn the mixer on low until the flour is lightly mixed in. Turn off the mixer and add the rest of the flour and then turn the mixer on low and mix in the flour.

If you're lazy like me, turn off the mixer, dump in the chocolate chips and nuts and then use the mixer to pull it all together, about 30 seconds. If you are more careful, pull the mixer bowl away from the mixer and dump in the chocolate chips and nuts and mix them in by hand.

Grab a cookie sheet (NOW you know why they're called that) and put a sheet of parchment paper on the sheet. You can put the cookies right on the pan, but the parchment paper makes it easier to clean and handle the cookies...no more trying to pry them loose from the pan using a spatula.

I use a number 20 disher (mine has a yellow handle and some companies follow that system, or you can look for the number on the back of the disher, or you can just use whatever you have, including a big spoon) and dish the cookie dough out so that there is at least an inch between the cookies as they will spread.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes...check them at 12, if they are golden brown in the middle, you are done, if not, add a couple of minutes.

Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack (if you used parchment paper, you can slide the whole thing over off the pan and onto the rack) for at least 5 minutes, or as long as you can stand waiting.