Happy New Year! Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy New Year's Eve!

I hope that you all have some festivities planned for tonight.  Mine are unclear, and I don't get to spend New Year's Eve with Kellen this year, but I'm going to make the best of it.


This year has been wonderful and so many things have happened.  I traveled to New York, Portland, Arkansas, Chicago, and many other places.  I took a photography class and improved my food photos big time.  (Take a look for yourself.  This is my post from last New Year's Eve: Cranberry Walnut Bread.)   I transferred to a new school that I love and made lots of great new friends.  I got a new kitten and named him Francis.  I went to KanRocksas, my first concert.  Kellen got me my very first Tiffany's necklace.  I baked a lot.  There are many, many more things and all in all, it was a wonderful year.  I hope 2012 is just as good.

I don't have any resolutions this year, only to be grateful for what I do have instead of trying to change.

Do you have any resolutions?  If so, what are they?


Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt1/2 cup peanut butter

Directions:

1. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and peanut butter.
2. Scoop rounded teaspoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.  You can also flatten with the bottom of a cup or something.  Sprinkle a little pinch of salt on each of the cookies.
3. Bake the cookies in a preheated 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn't brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely.