Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mounds

These little mounds are a mix between a traditional peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and cake-balls. They’re denser than your average cookies and crumbly and cake-like in the middle. You can also find this recipe on page 16 in The Westfield Leader’s online archive (goleader.com) from Thursday, June 18. It’s also linked in the “press tab” on my blog.

This recipe makes about 22 golf-ball sized mounds.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup melted peanut butter (I use an all-natural kind, but any will work for this recipe)

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 egg

• 1 stick of unsalted butter (melted)

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Mix flour and baking soda in a large bowl

3. In a separate bowl, melt your peanut butter in the microwave (do this in 10 second increments so you don’t burn it)

4. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, vanilla and egg (this will turn into a light brown liquidy mixture)

5. Mix your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients.

6. Add the melted peanut butter and butter.

7. Once combined, add chocolate chips. Your dough will be somewhat grainy - and that’s okay! Don’t be afraid to mix the dough with your hands, it really helps. You will know you’re finished when there’s no longer flour visible in the dough.

8. Once it’s well mixed, start forming your mounds. Mold the dough it your hands and form them into mounds (about the size of a golf ball) and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

9. Place in the oven and bake for about 14-16 minutes, until they’ve risen slightly (these will not rise much, nor expand). Test the mounds by breaking them in half with a fork. If the middle is still somewhat doughy, cook for an additional minute or two.