Peanut Butter Cookies

Prepare

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

"Cream" the fat and sugar

1. To a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter, shortening, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat on LOW for about 30 seconds (or until the ingredients are starting to stick together), then increase speed to MED and beat for about 1-2 minutes, or until everything is fully combined. **This process is called creaming the fat and sugar, but there is no cream in this recipe**

Beat wet ingredients

1. To the same mixing bowl, add the peanut butter and beat on LOW until combined.
2. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat again, on LOW, until combined.

Stir in the dry ingredients

1. To the same mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir everything together until just combined, and no flour streaks remain when stirred.

Bake

1. Use a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop (or just roll 1 Tbsp sized balls of dough) to scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2” of space between each cookie.
2. Use a fork with long prongs to gently press a criss-cross pattern on the top of each ball of dough. This will slightly flatten the dough balls. **Use enough force to create a defined pattern, but not enough to completely mash the dough flat**
3. Bake cookies, for best results bake one baking sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. They may seem very soft and a bit underdone, but that's how they're supposed to look when you take them out.
4. Remove baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then gently transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack. **Letting them sit on the baking sheet allows them to gently finish baking and will make sure they're not overcooked and crumbly**