My Favorite Cookie

Now, this is kind of a Sophie's Choice kind of thing.  I mean, cookies?  How can I decide which one is my all-time favorite?  Can't I go with current favorite?  Favorite strawberry cookie?  Favorite chocolate chip cookie?  There need to be subdivisions.  But there aren't.  And this, my friends, is my favorite cookie.  (PS--my wedding dress almost didn't fit because of cookies.  That tidbit should surprise nobody.)

It's Real Simple's recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.  And it's. . .so good that you'll eat 15 of them and then not fit into your wedding dress.  (Not entirely true; the culprit in the wedding dress saga was the Pepperidge Farm White Chocolate Macademia Nut cookie--a close second.)

Back in the fall, Carly put these up on her Facebook (which is, apparently, my complete inspiration for this blog), and I was in love.  I was all, "Hey, I subscribe to Real Simple!  Why didn't I see that recipe?"  Oh yeah, that was because I had a bout of narcolepsy whilst reading that particular issue, and then the magazine rested on the floor by my side of the bed for three weeks.  Shoooooooooooooooot.

Thank the good lord for Carly!

And here's why this recipe is so perfect (beside the fact that it's, well, perfect): we always have miniature Reese's cups.  Matt has the self control of Jesus (at least when it comes to Reese's cups), and for some reason I can refrain from shoving them into my mouth.  So we can keep them on hand at all times.  Matt will say, "I'm going to have a dessert," and he'll stroll into the kitchen and come back with ONE mini Reese's.  (Yeah, I kind of hate him, too.) 

AND, in a class that I've been taking all year, one that I haven't blogged about because I, at times, subscribe to the "If you don't have anything nice to say. . ." addage.  (Also because it's about my job, and I try not to shit talk it too much.  If you want to hear those juicy stories you'll need to phone me.)  Anyway, in my COMPLETELY AWESOME and NOT AT ALL STUPID class on how to teach gifted students, we were learning about how to use rubrics to assess student work.  Our REALLY SMART teacher had us learn rubrics by making a rubric for the perfect cookie.  Although this may seem like an activity that I would enjoy, I found it annoying, and a complete waste of time. Fortunately, I was in the "making the rubric" group and not in the "making the cookies" group.  But I did recommend this recipe to someone who had to make the cookies, and these cookies won the Golden Spatula award.  (Perhaps you're beginning to understand why I am so EXCITED TO GO TO THIS CLASS FOR THREE HOURS EVERY MONDAY NIGHT.)  Point is, these cookies won. 

And they won because they're f'ing delicious.

Are you ready for this tasty madness?

Also, you should know that this is some of the most delicious cookie batter on the planet.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (from Real Simple)
.Makes 48 cookies (or 16 if you're Mandy.  I like 'em bigger.)
Hands-On Time: 15m
Total Time: 40m


Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 12-ounce package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped


Directions
1.Heat oven to 375° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
2.Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in the peanut butter cups.
3.Drop tablespoon-size mounds of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until light brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

It's Wednesday!  Woop-woop!  (And somebody I know only has 22 more days of school. . .)