Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

 

If you like shortbread cookies you are going to want to try this recipe ASAP.  One of the things I love about shortbread is the ease and quickness of making them from beginning to end.  Very few ingredients are required with no complicated maneuvers.  You can add different flavorings to them for some variety, as I did with my Cherry Shortbread Hearts.  I've also experimented with raspberry and almond extract, which I'll be posting about soon.  When these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies showed up on Pinterest, I knew immediately I would love them and had to mix up a batch just to be sure.  I was not wrong!  Give them a try yourself:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

recipe by The view from the Great Island

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  
• In a standing or electric mixer cream together butter and peanut butter.
• Beat in the vanilla.
• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in separate bowl.
• Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and beat just until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Turn the dough out onto waxed paper, and shape like a log.

• Roll the wax paper completely around the dough, maintaining log shape.
• Twist the ends like a piece of candy.

• Refrigerate for several hours.
• Cut into 1/3 thick slices and bake for 12-14 minutes.

• Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before placing them on wire rack to cool completely.
• EAT!

Okay, so embarrassing at it is to admit, once again, I did not read the entire recipe thoroughly and used semi-sweet chips rather than milk chocolate.  Believe me when I tell you, this does not work.  This cookie needs the sweetness of milk chocolate to really bring out the flavor of the peanut butter.  What I ended up doing was pressing some milk chocolate chips onto the cookies before baking (once I recognized my mistake).  Perfection.  In fact, I loved the semi-sweetness combined with the milk chocolate for a more layered chocolate/peanut butter taste.  And, I must add, the sea salt really makes this recipe!  All of the flavors combined just really, really work together to make one fantastic cookie.  I hope you enjoy them, too!