Dark chocolate Flourless PB cookies

Blockette calls this Monkey peanut butter. (See the cute little monkey on the jar? Why the monkey I wonder. I get monkeys and bananas, but monkeys and peanut butter? Who knew?) It's peanut butter blended with dark chocolate from Peanut Butter and Company. My mom had bought it for herself and didn't care for it so she passed it on to me. I tasted it and didn't care for it much either. I thought, well I wonder what it would taste like in a cookie?

Answer: Freekin awesome!!!! I used my "go-to" peanut butter cookie recipe from Baking bites called: Flourless Peanut butter cookies. I originally found this recipe because once upon a time Mrblocko had a co-worker who couldn't eat flour. (Ironically, he now has a co-worker that can't eat peanuts and almost killed her by offering her one of these cookies without telling her they were full of peanut butter.) I felt bad that I was making up a bunch of goodies for him to take to work and she couldn't have any. Little did I know I stumbled on one of our favorite cookies.

This was the first time I've made this cookie with anything other than plain old peanut butter. I used to only ever make it with Reeses brand peanut butter. While the Reeses brand tasted awesome, there wasn't that much difference to other brands. Now I just use whatever's in the pantry, which is almost always the 5 lb tub of Meijer's brand generic peanut butter. Yes, you read that right. Five pounds of peanut butter. We eat a lot of pbj's in this house. I got tired of constantly buying pb and never having enough to make these cookies. Now I prefer the generic over the other major brands.

The original recipe doesn't specify, but I like mini chips, or mini M&M's in this cookie. I prefer the chocolate to cookie ratio per bite with the mini's. I've used a regular sized chip and sometimes I got a bite that didn't have a chip in it. It made me very sad and I promised I'd never ever make that mistake again. Back to this particular version of this cookie. I used semi sweet mini chips. I debated using regular size M&M's but then I remembered that promise I made to myself about full size chips. Besides, I wasn't sure how the milk chocolate would taste with the dark chocolate in the peanut butter.

The only thing that would make these cookies even more awesome would be to figure out a way to add espresso to the batter. I'm worried that adding liquid might reduce the stability of the dough. Sadly, I don't have enough of this fancy peanut butter left to experiment with. Blockette isn't complaining because she's been having the remaing peanut butter with Blackberry jelly. (The other day I told her she had to be quiet because I was going to be on the phone with Grandma. She was adamant about me thanking my mom AGAIN for the "monkey peanut butter". She "reminded" me three times before I finished dialing my mother's number. The kid would not let it go.)

Mrblocko pointed out this peanut butter would be great to use in the peanut butter banana applesauce shake to turn into Popsicles. Why didn't I think of that. I probably would have had enough left in the jar to make the Popsicles after making the cookies had Blockette not been gobbling up the stuff in sandwiches.

I've done a bit of research here and there about these strange peanut butter flavors. I discovered Peanut Butter and Company makes other peanut butter concoctions that would be interesting to try in cookie form. There is another peanut butter company by the name of P.B.Loco who has equally interesting experiment worthy flavors. It's too bad I cannot continue scientific experiments on the multiple variations of this cookie. I'd be happy for more donations. I'd even share the end results with the kind benefactor, all in the name of science of course. Who isn't for scientific progress?

One last, slightly unrelated thing, this cookie has even gotten the cat seal of approval. I set 2 cookies on a plate, turned my back for a second and found my black cat, Boo, licking one of the cookies. (This is the same cat that once licked half the cream cheese frosting off a carrot cake intended for Mrblocko's birthday. Boo was sooo sick that day, and mad at me for it.) Luckily. I caught Boo before he actually ate the cookie. He's so dumb. He doesn't know chocolate isn't good for cats. Poor little guy. I never let him have any fun.

Flourless PB Cookies from Baking Bites
1 cup smooth peanut butter (I used a national brand)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together all ingredients til smooth, adding chocolate chips at the end of mixing. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly with a moistened finger. Bake 10-13 min at 350 F, til golden brown at the edges. Cool on pan before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen.