Peanut Butter Chocolate Chipsters

Today's recipe is one of my FAVORITE cookie recipes! Peanut butter and chocolate is a match made in heaven, and this recipe pairs them perfectly. I've adapted it from the food blog Smells Like Home.

2 C. plus 6 Tbsp. all- purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 C. brown sugar, packed

1/2 C. granulated sugar

2/3 C. creamy peanut butter (I use exclusively natural peanut butter, but, having tried this recipe with both kinds, I prefer it with traditional peanut butter, such as Jif).

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 C. chocolate chips (I use milk or a mixture of milk and dark)

1/2 C. shredded sweetened coconut (I don't like coconut, so I either leave it out altogether or substitute oats)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside. With electric mixer, mix butter, sugars, and peanut butter until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low- speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut (if desired).

3. Roll a scant half- cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves. Place dough on cookie sheet with jagged surface facing up leaving ample room between each ball. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and out edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approx. 11-14 minutes). Do not overbake.

This dough seems strangely crumbly after you mix it, which is why you form the dough balls the way you do. Don't be alarmed, this is what the dough is supposed to be like. :)