A simple, sturdy cookie for the strict Fast, leaning on peanut butter for all its richness. The crosshatch top is the old, familiar mark of a peanut butter cookie.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Chewy peanut butter cookies studded with chunks of dark baking chocolate, rich enough for a fast day without oil or dairy.
Servings 16
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 1 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy is fine but can't be "natural"
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar (plus 1 1/2 tablespoons)
- 1 flax egg (see note below)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 oz bar of baking chocolate, chopped into small chunks
For the flax egg
- 1 tbsp flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)
- 2 1/2 tbsp water
Method
- Make the flax egg: stir together the flaxseed meal and water in a small dish and let rest 5 minutes to thicken.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F with the racks in the upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper. Do not use Silpats; the cookies will spread too much.
- Combine the peanut butter and both sugars in a large bowl. Stir together with a wooden spoon, then smush the mixture against the sides of the bowl several times to incorporate the sugar. (A stand mixer works well too.)
- Add the flax egg, baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Stir until really smooth, then fold in the chopped chocolate chunks. (To make the dough ahead, cover the bowl with plastic and refrigerate up to 24 hours.)
- Use a 1 1/2-tablespoon disher to scoop the dough into 16 rounds, spacing 8 rounds evenly per sheet. Using a fork in a mash-and-swipe motion, make crosshatch patterns in each round; each cookie should end up about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
- Bake until just set, about 10 minutes, rotating the sheets between the racks after about 5 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pans, set on wire racks, for at least 10 minutes before serving.