Brownie Cookies with White Chocolate and Peanut Butter

If you give a mouse a cookie -- especially if it is a brownie-like cookie with tons of peanut butter, chocolate and white chocolate -- the mouse will be very very happy.

My birthday gift to you: For the month of July, I’m sharing some favorite cookie recipes. I love baking, and I especially love baking cookies. These are some of my favorites.

Full disclosure: I did not think the boy herd would like these with peanut butter chips. I made a version with orange cranberry almonds and white chocolate chunks, which was popular, but the peanut butter option stole the show.

Be sure you use a high-quality bar white chocolate. A lot of the white chocolate chip options are just super sweet and leave a lot to be desired.

Brownie Cookies with White Chocolate and Peanut Butter

Yield: 16 large cookies 

Ingredients

12 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar light or dark

1/4 cup fine granulated sugar

1 tsp fine sea salt

2/3 cup dutch process cocoa

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup rye or whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (you can do all AP flour, if you'd rather)

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup good quality white chocolate bar, chopped

flaky salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Directions

Set the butter in a heatproof bowl and pour the sugar over it. Microwave the bowl for 1 minute at 100% power until the butter is fully softened. Whisk well. Add the salt and cocoa and whisk well.

Whisk in the vanilla. Add one egg at a time and whisk well. The mixture will start to look like brownie batter, thick and shiny.

Pour in the flours, baking soda and powder and stir until there are no visible flour bits. Add the chips and the chopped white chocolate, and stir until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment, and using a 2 T scoop, portion your dough into balls. The cookie balls can be close together; cover the pan with another baking pan and set it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. (You can definitely chill the cookie dough in the bowl, too, but I find scooping the chilled dough can be quite an upper body workout!)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 additional baking sheets with parchment paper (grease the pan beforehand so the parchment sticks).

Divide the dough among the 3 baking sheets. Sprinkle each cookie with flaky salt, if using.

Bake until the cookies have spread and cracked all over, about 13 - 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy!