Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups (335 grams) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (450 grams) smooth peanut butter (Skippy)
Maldon sea salt, to finish

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the light brown sugar and eggs until incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Add the peanut butter and mix with a spatula until smooth and completely incorporated, and until no ribbons of peanut butter can be seen. You know the dough is ready when it has the consistency of Play-Doh.

3. Using a scoop or a spoon, form the dough into 12 approximately 2-inch (2- to 2 1/4-ounce) balls and place them on a large plate or sheet pan. Make sure you have 12 cookies. You want them all the same size.  I weigh the dough on a scale in ounces and divide it by 12. place the dough into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Take them out of the refrigerator and lightly roll them into smooth balls.  Do not compress them too hard.

4. Place six dough balls on one cookie sheet. Sprinkle the dough balls lightly with coarse-grained sea salt just before baking. Bake for 20 minutes, turning the rimmed sheet pan once halfway through baking. When finished, the cookies will be lightly golden and cracked on top. Let cool completely before serving.
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5. You can bake these cookies as soon as the dough is prepared, but they will retain their shape better if you freeze them for 15 minutes before baking. 
Chef's Tip: While the all-natural peanut butter works just fine, Skippy is the peanut butter brand of choice for this recipe as it retains the dough shape best. 


​Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen
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