Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks

These cookies might be an all-time favorite for those who enjoy a little extra salt in desserts. They rate a perfect 5 for texture, baking up crispy on the outside and soft/chewy on the inside. They also rate a perfect 5 for the level of sweetness- even with the sugar sprinkle on top and milk chocolate chips, the sugar seemed about the right balance with the peanut butter and salt (not too sweet).

The flavor is good, but the reason I rated the overall cookie four stars instead of five is that they are a little too salty for me and have a slight bitter aftertaste.

There is a lot of baking soda in these. It seems like cookie recipes often use larger amounts of baking soda to facilitate browning, and I suspect that the soda might also help create the lovely texture, keeping these from setting until they have spread into a thin, crispy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside cookie. If I make these again I'll start with a small batch and use less baking soda, in hopes of reducing the saltiness and eliminating the bitter aftertaste.

I liked these better the day after baking, when all the flavors had had a chance to blend and mellow a bit.

For those who weigh ingredients, this book uses 139g as the weight of a cup of AP flour (I learned this from RLB's baking forum, where a member had been in contact with one of the authors).