Family Recipe Friday - Oh Cookie Recipe, How I've Been Looking for You!

And for quite some time too!  Years ago when I was a teenager (and I'm not saying how long ago that was) my sisters and I used to make these cookies.  They had two of the things we loved most in them...chocolate and peanut butter.  They came from a small, free recipe book that Hershey put out in 1979.

The dough was always tough to make though.  There aren't a lot of liquid ingredients and if we used our hand-held mixer for this recipe it would smell like it was burning.  I'm not sure whether that was the fault of an old mixer or the cookie dough, but after smelling it we immediately stopped using the mixer!  It was hand stirring only for us and one time we actually broke a wooden spoon while mixing the batter!

My father had this recipe book in his kitchen and many years ago I asked for it.  I wanted to find the recipe that made those yummy cookies and make them for my kids. He gave it to me and I eagerly looked through the pages in search of it.

I'm a visual person.  I can remember where something was on a page, although I might not remember everything it said.  I remembered that the recipe was on a left page of the cookbook, but search as I might, I couldn't find it.  I couldn't remember it's name and nothing seemed familiar.  Then the other day as I was cleaning my kitchen I picked up the book again and turned right to it.  It must have been staring me in the face and laughing at me, it just didn't register.

My oldest son made the cookies while I made salsa on Super Bowl Sunday.  Since the Packers weren't playing there wasn't a big party like last year, but salsa and cookies (not together...ick) were required for the game.

Every oven is different so take the baking time with a grain of salt.  You want the cookies to start to turn golden on the bottoms so that they don't stay soft after they cool.  Yeah...that's pretty hard to do with a chocolate cookie, but after making the whole batch (and eating many of the warm, yummy cookies) I realized that they were undercooked when they cooled.  They should be crunchy, not soft.

Also, the recipe says to drop by teaspoonfuls...use your best judgement there.  Yes, that's the only way you'll probably get 5 dozen cookies, but they will be too small for my liking!  I hope you enjoy my little piece of nostalgia!

Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Cookies

1 c. butter
1-1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
2/3 c. cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 (12 oz) pkg Peanut Butter chips

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in large mixing bowl.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; blend in.  Stir in peanut butter chips.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool 1 minute before removing to wire rack. About 5 dozen cookies.