TWD: Peanut Butter Crisscrosses with Chocolate Chips

For some really random reasons, this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for the Peanut Butter Criss-Cross Cookies (here with chocolate chips) took me on a surreal trek down memory lane.  It was kind of fun though, and the cookies were great, so, while I don't often get really random on here, please allow me in this case to indulge in some true ridiculousness.  Thank you to Jasmine at Jasmine Cuisine for choosing this recipe and sending me to visit the past.  It was fun!

I have always LOVED peanut butter cookies.  My favorites growing up were always the ones that added in some chocolate.  No shock there.  These cookies were everything I want in a good peanut butter cookie.  I only made changes (leaving out the extra peanuts and adding the chocolate chips without the cocoa variation) because I just wanted to use what I had on hand.  I'm sure the other variations are just as wonderful.

For whatever reason - and I blame the nostalgia of these cookies themselves for sending me off on this tangent - when I was typing 'Criss-Cross' in the title it took me all the way back to 1992 and another Kris Kross - two kids who were only 13 and hit big on the rap scene.  The first song I remember was one called "Jump" - not a particular favorite of mine, but it did get me thinking...

I would have been a freshman in high school (you all know I'm not shy about dating myself here now).  I grew up in Wyoming and the extent of our access to the outside 'trendy' world was getting our tv stations from Denver.  If I wanted any concept of what was going on in the world (let's face it - the internet was just getting going where I lived - I have no idea when it started booming in places that weren't as rural as Wyoming) was to watch MTV.  This all got me thinking about what music I listened to back them (pretty much everything - which is the same now) and what other music was popular during my high school years.

This is one random tangent I know, but it made me realize a couple of things about music that was popular in the early nineties - there was an awful lot of jumping going on - especially at our high school dances.  So, to share in the random tangent I went on and take any of you other nineties lovers there with me, I found a list of some of the songs that were popular in the 90's.  Prepare yourself.

So, grab a cookie and have your own little nostalgic moment.  Enjoy! I'm not going to lie - I enjoyed this mix - some were favorites, some were ones that we got really, really, really sick of - but over all it was a nice little trip with some good laughs too.

The 90's were a pretty big decade for me I must say as I look back.  I started high school, dated for the first time, went to my first school dances, had my first real crushes, graduated high school, moved away from home for the first time, moved to a different city/state from my parents, went skydiving, met my husband and got married.  It was a whirlwind.

What song/memory do you associate most with the 90's?



I have to send you to this separate clip too though because for some reason the first one pretty much had no grunge on it and frankly, that was a huge part of the 90's for me too.  Along with my flannel shirts and Docs (which, incidentally, I still find very cute - they were pretty practical in Wyo too - these are the closest style to ones I used to wear I think).  That was a very acceptable fashion in the wilds of Wyoming.  :)

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

I feel like I have done a bit of an injustice here by always talking about chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  To attempt to correct that, you may be wondering why I am here with something that, once again, has chocolate in it.  

I have a very good reason actually.  Okay, so the first one isn't really a reason, more of a justification, but there you go, nonetheless.  

These cookies don't just have chocolate... they have PEANUT BUTTER!  Ta Da!  Yes, I am well aware that was lame, but you know me and you know that is just the way I roll.

These Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies are easy to make and ridiculously good.  The great thing is that the dough freezes and bakes really nicely right from the freezer, with only a couple of additional minutes added to the baking time.  Since this is probably one of the very first times that milk chocolate has ever made an appearance on my blog you may be surprised that it is what I used in these cookies.  Well, after the other Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies I made a while back, with the very dark chocolate, I decided to see the difference.  It was profound.  The milk chocolate compliments the peanut butter beautifully here, where, in the other cookies, the dark chocolate was really good, but somewhat overpowering.  The tip to NOT try to change the chocolate out came straight from the recipe, and for once I listened.  So, lesson learned, milk chocolate plays nicer with peanut butter here.

So, the REAL reason I am talking about chocolate again is that, since Mother's Day is coming up and all, the wonderful folks over at See's Candies offered to giveaway a $25 gift certificate to one of my lucky readers!  That is right!  I'm not just talking about chocolate, but now you have the chance to get $25 worth of the good stuff - of course, if you are generous and not begrudgingly greedy with chocolate like yours truly then you would actually use it to get something for a Mom in your life (and hey, maybe that is you!).

All you have to do to have a chance to win is to head over to See's website to get some great ideas for Mother's Day Gifts and tell me which is your favorite.  Contest will run until Saturday, 12 PM MST!

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

SOURCE:  Baked

Note:  This dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours so plan your cravings accordingly.

Makes approx. 24 large cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (the only change I made was to use light brown - it was all I had at the time, but can't wait to try with the dark)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup creamy peanut butter 

6 ounces good milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each one is incorporated.  The mixture will look light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and the peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds.  Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate.  Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.  With the palm of your hand, or the flat bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, gently press each cookie down to barely flatten it - it will form a tall disk shape.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little granulated sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops of the cookies just begin to brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Use a spatula to transfer the individual cookies to the rack to cool completely (although they are also delicious warm).

The cookies can be stored, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

NOTE:  Since this makes so many cookies I shaped out all the dough (including pressing it down slightly) on a lined baking sheet (don't worry about spacing for freezing) and placed it into the freezer until they were frozen solid.  You can then move them to a freezer gallon ziptop bag and bake a few at a time when you want them.  Straight from the freezer just add a couple of minutes to your baking.