Peanut Butter Cookies (with choc chips)

The first recipe book which I owned was given to me as a child, I think it was called Learn to Cook and would have been printed in the 60’s or 70’s.  The book has long since moved on to the happy kitchen in the sky.  The one recipe which endured from that book was for Peanut Butter Cookies and I have been baking them for near on 40 years.  A few years ago my husband Cliff suggested adding choc chips, since then I have made them with choc chips every time.

Although I bake pretty much everything with my children, this is a particularly easy one and they are delicious.

I have found that the dough for almost all cookie recipes can be frozen, this is fantastic as I always have dough rolled and flattened into cookie shapes in the freezer.  This means that I can bake half of a batch and freeze the rest to be made fresh as and when I need them.  I usually double this recipe.

Update – When visiting my family in Durban my sister-in-law had chocolate discs, I used these instead of choc chips and was very happy with the result.  I just put one disc on top of each cookie before baking.  Will definitely do this again.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (makes 24)

INGREDIENTS

85 grams margarine

110 grams castor sugar

60 grams soft brown sugar

1 egg

60 ml peanut butter

170 grams flour

pinch salt

1 tsp bicarb (baking soda)

80 ml (1/3 cup) choc chips (optional)

METHOD

1 ) Cream margarine and sugar until light and soft

2) Add egg and peanut butter – beat to combine

3) Sift dry ingredients into mix

4) Add choc chips (optional) – beat to combine

Roll into balls and flatten lightly with a fork.

Heat oven to 200 deg C, while the oven is heating place the raw cookies on a plate in the freezer, this chills them a bit which prevents them from spreading.

When the oven reaches temperature bake for 10 – 15 mins