Dare to DIY: Dare to Eat Cookies

Week 3 of the Dare to DIY blog party over at Newlywoodwards and it is a dare I am up for. She has dared us to eat cookies!

Have you ever seen the episode of Friends where Monica is trying to determine the recipe of Phoebe's grandmother's famous chocolate chip cookies? She makes a ton of batches of cookies but can never get it right. Then Phoebe says that her grandmother got the recipe from an old French relative "Nessley Toolouse." Monica freaks out and says "Nestle Toll House?" Yeah. That's my chocolate chip cookie recipe too. I have tried others. Martha, Better Homes and Gardens, Joy of Cooking, even one from this blog, but nothing beats the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.

As much as I love the Mister, he is a weird one. He once complained that his chocolate chip cookie had too many chocolate chips. Really? Too many? He said he wanted peanut butter chip cookies. Not peanut butter cookies, but the dough form chocolate chip cookies but peanut butter chips instead. When he said that, my mind went immediately to peanut butter cookies.

So what type of cookies do I make? I went with all three. Chocolate chip, peanut butter chip and classic peanut butter cookies. Whoa. That's a lot of cookies for two people. When I bake cookies, one of two things happen: we eat them all in two days and feel like big ol' piggies or we end up not eating all of them and they go stale. So, I decided to make the dough, refrigerate it, and then we have the ability to bake one or two cookies at a time. If I want one of each kind or all chocolate chip, I can do that. I love having the dough already made in the freezer or fridge so I can have a scoop of cookie dough whenever I want I can bake cookies whenever I want.

Since this is like a cookie exchange, I want to give you my cookies on a cute plate. I found this genius and simple idea. It really made me say, "how have I never thought of this?" I love cookie exchanges, and I also like giving out cookies as a thank you or for whatever. I hate handing them out on boring paper plates, but I don't always have a festive/cheap plate to give away. I've wrapped in printed cellophane before but look how easy this is!

Just take a paper plate, and with a hole puncher punch holes around the rim of the plate, about an inch or so apart. I used curling ribbon that I threaded around the plate, then curled the ends. Done! You could also use fabric ribbon, and then tie a bow. This is so simple, and you can easily change it up for the different holidays/seasons.

Here is the link to the Nestle Toll House recipe, if you don't have the bag of chocolate chips or if you buy them in bulk like I do. I made two batches of this to put away: one with the traditional chocolate chips and another batch with the peanut butter chips.

Here is my peanut butter cookie recipe:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Start by sifting the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Then cream the peanut butter and butter together using an electric mixer (or lots of arm muscle!) Add in the sugars and the egg. Then slowly add your dry ingredients to the bowl.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it sit for at least an hour in the fridge.

When ready to bake, make 1 inch balls and flatten them with a fork. Bake for about 15 minutes at 300 degrees.

What is your favorite cookie recipe?