Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

• 1 ⅛ sticks (125 g) soft butter
• 1 ¾ sticks (200 g) smooth peanut butter (commercial, not natural)
• ½ cup packed (120 g) soft brown sugar
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1 egg + 1 yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda & ½ tsp salt

Method

1. Cream. Oven to 350°F (180°C, fan 160°C); line two trays. Beat the butter, peanut butter and both sugars until creamy — about 2 minutes.
2. Wet, then dry. Beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt until just combined.
3. Roll & criss-cross. Walnut-sized balls, spaced out. Press each twice with the back of a fork, at right angles.
4. Underbake. 10–12 minutes: edges set and golden, centers still slightly underdone-looking. That's the chew — trust it.
5. Cool on the tray. Ten minutes on the hot tray to finish setting, then a rack. Airtight tin, 5 days — theoretically.