Peanut Butter Cookies Dressed-up for Christmas

 

My niece, Chelsea, and my brother, Michael, love peanut butter!  So when I asked Chelsea what kind of Christmas cookies she wanted to make, she said,”something with chocolate and peanut butter.”  No surprise, there!  But how could we make them  Christmassy?  She decided to blend together several different colors of sugar and roll the cookie dough in it – which was just the right touch.  We simply added a cup of Valrhona Milk Chocolate Crunchy Pearls into our regular recipe.  So simple, and so festive.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a stand mixer, blend:
1 cup Butter, at room temperature
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
Cream for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Add:
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Blend until well-combined.

Add:
3 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda

When well-combined, add:
1 cup Peanut Butter
Mix until thoroughly combined.
Then stir in 1 cup Valrhona Milk Chocolate Crunchy Pearls, by hand.

Pour about 1/2 cup mixed colored sugar into a shallow bowl.  Using about 1 Tablespoon of dough, roll into balls, then roll in sugar until completely coated with sugar.  Space balls, leaving plenty of room to spread (3-2-3-2 in rows on the cookie sheet).    Press criss-cross designs into the top of each ball.  Bake for 10 minutes for soft cookies, longer for crisp cookies.

Merry Christmas!