INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Combine brown sugar, butter and peanut butter in a bowl.

3. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until mixed.

4. Add flour, baking soda and salt.

5. Roll in a ball and flatten with fork in a crisscross pattern.

6. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

I fell in love with peanut butter cookies the first time I tried them. They’re my choice of dessert to spoil my appetite.

I had not tried them until I was in bmiddle school, but they are the reason I started experimenting with peanut butter-based desserts. They look good, they taste great and they break apart effortlessly.

Making this crumbly delight is simple. Start by preheating the oven to 350 F, and then mix the brown sugar, a stick of butter and peanut butter in a bowl. Beat the ingredients until they are smooth, add in the egg and vanilla and mix some more. Add in the rest of the ingredients—flour, baking soda and salt—and keep mixing. The dough should be creamy because of the peanut butter.

For those who want extra sweetness, throw some milk chocolate chips into the mix and be ready to savor every bite and hide the rest from friends.

Once the mix is ready, roll the dough into balls and flatten them in a crisscross pattern with a fork.

Bake the cookies for eight minutes or until they are golden brown and gently put Hershey’s kisses in the middle of the cookies. The chocolate will hold its place as the cookie hardens around it. Peanut butter’s flavor and scent are distinct, and nothing compares to eating a cookie fresh out of the oven—with or without a topping.

As an alternative, the cookie dough can be put into mini cupcake wrappers. Leave enough space that a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup can be placed into the center. As was done with the Hershey’s kisses, put a peanut butter cup in the middle of each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.

Peanut butter cookies are more delicate than regular cookies, so hold them carefully and do not fight over them.