Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, these are delicious.

Reader Zara recently sent me a recipe for Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (via Food52), and yesterday afternoon’s break (I’m working on a whole bunch of freelance segment scripts) presented a perfect opportunity to give them a try.

They ended up being puffier and flakier than I expected, but wow, are they ever good: they’re just the slightest bit fudgy in the middle, and the contrast between the chocolate (I used dark chocolate chips instead of the semi-sweet chips recommended in the recipe) and the sea salt is totally unexpected, and totally to-die-for. Kendrick tried one when he got home from work, did this sort of eyeballs-rolling-back-in-head thing, and then tried another. And another.

SALTED DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

What you need:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup room-temperature butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup creamy (not all-natural) peanut butter

1/2 cup unsalted peanuts (mine were salted because that’s all the store had at the moment, and it worked fine)

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling (I used Murray River Pink Flake Salt, which is mild enough to sprinkle on with abandon)

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed (my mixer is broken, so I just beat everything by hand…a bit of a pain, but it works fine).

4. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

5. Beat in peanut butter until just combined.

6. Beat in flour mixture until just combined.

7. Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips.

8. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto lined cookie sheets, and top each cookie with a few salt crystals (I used a lot because a) I like a lot of salt and b) the salt I used is very mild).

9. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until edges are firm. Cool completely and store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.