Blogosphere, what do you like to jam to when you’re in the kitchen?  My go-to is always Led Zeppelin.  Fiancébot can usually tell when I’m about to get down to some real business when he hears “Friends” by Zep start floating out of the kitchen.  It reminds me of both my Mom and Dad, which is an added bonus – I grew up on classic rock and it’s the easiest way for me to get in my zone.

Anyway, to the baking!  I had a very lazy weekend (except oh man, did a grilled cheese party on Friday night…may have to break my mold and post some of them here) and realized last night that I needed to make something!  My goal is to do something twice a week, and try to make sure that it’s a different something both times to keep life interesting.  This need for variety lead to me finding this amazing recipe from Ambitious Kitchen – I hope some day soon to be able to create recipes like this off the ol’ noggin, but man.  These are seriously, seriously addictive.  I brought them to work and put them in the kitchen at 8 am, and they were gone before 10.

So, y’know, good way to win friends and influence people :).

Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies

• Servings: roughly 2 dozen
• Time: 15 minutes prep, 45 minutes chill, 10 minutes baking
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp plain sour cream
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate ones here, but any kind works!)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda,  baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl (here the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the softened butter and peanut butter together until thoroughly blended. Add the sugars and beat until smooth.

   

3. Next beat in the egg, honey, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Chill dough in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes-1 hour, or place in freezer for 20 minutes.

   

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Once ready to bake, roll dough into 1-inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet – I used my handy cookie scoop for uniformity. Bake for 9-12 minutes (size dependent – the bigger they are, the longer you’ll need, and for my cookie scoop it took 11 minutes), rotating halfway, or until cookies begin to turn a tiny golden brown and get crispy around the edges.

   

6. CRUCIAL not to overbake here!  The cookies won’t be fully set in the middle – it is super important to let them cool on the cookie sheet before you move them to the rack. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes and sprinkle cookies generously with sea salt. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely or mainline them at your own discretion.

NOTES

– If you use all-natural peanut butter, try adding in another 1/2 tablespoon of flour because cookies tend to spread too thin when baking with all-natural peanut butter.

Now go forth and bake!