Peanut Butter Swirled Chocolate Cookies

First of all: I'd like to publicly thank my amazing cousin and bridesmaid Emily for the little cutting board and plate you see featured here: for my wedding gift (Michael got his own, mainly Batman-related, gifts from her) she got me a ton of food photography props from Fishs Eddy and it was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. So we can all thank her for how cute these pics turned out.

Now, back to the food that is being featured on aforementioned food props. 

Michael needed me to bake cookies for him to bring to work again. And they wanted cookies that involved chocolate and peanut butter. And thus, these lovelies were made!

These are some seriously chocolatey cookies. And they're perfect for gifting or shipping since they're sturdy BUT they're also delightfully soft and chewy when warm. And then...the beautiful surprise...peanut butter swirled throughout. And I may have used chocolate peanut butter for mine because...I mean...why not? Right?

They went over super well with Michael's coworkers but the recipe makes a lot of cookies...so they also went over well with Michael's family a week later at Conneaut. And yesterday when Michael ate the last 2 in his lunch. So...they age well. But I still recommend eating them fresher. Freeze them if you must-they freeze great! 

Now, go forth and eat cookies!

 Peanut Butter Swirled Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from Picky Palate's "Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Swirl Fudgy Cookies"

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (or chocolate peanut butter--natural, homemade, or storebought are all fine)
• 2 sticks (or 16 tbsp. or 1/2 lb.) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups chocolate chunks or chips (dark or semisweet are best)

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
• Freeze peanut butter for about 30 minutes, until firm.
• Using a mixer (hand or stand) cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder and mix on low speed until just combined. 
• Add chocolate chunks/chips and mix in until evenly incorporated.
• Drop in dollops of chilled peanut butter and just mix a few times so that it is swirled throughout the dough.
• Use a medium cookie scoop to measure dough onto cookie sheet, leaving at least 1 inch of space between each dough ball. (You'll need to do a few batches to use up all the dough.)
• Bake 14-16 minutes, until set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat until all the dough is used up. 
• Serve warm! Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or freeze in freezer bags for up to 3 months.

Peanut butter swirrrrl, swirl!