Triple Play Peanut Butter Cookies

I despise night shift.

I am a morning person by nature and I love waking up early on a Saturday or Sunday and getting a bunch of stuff done before the rest of the world is even thinking about getting out and about. On Saturdays Chris and I like to get up early, go to Starbucks for coffee, then to Panera for everything bagels before heading to Safeway then the organic market. We can usually get all of that done before 10 am and at that hour we can usually do it without a lot of annoying people on the road or in the stores.

The only "drawback" to our morning preference is going to bed early, and in fact, Chris and I usually head to bed around 8:30, something that appalls many of our friends. But, when I'm on day shift I have to wake up at 4 am, and Chris has to get up at 5, so going to bed early is the only real solution. I suppose we could just get less sleep, but I'm not a very pleasant person to be around when I'm running on anything less than 7.5 hours -- cranky, grumpy, easily irritated and quick to snap... no, I prefer (and I'm sure Chris shares the preference) to just plan my day so I get enough sleep and I don't care enough about what others think about my "geezer" preference to change my habits.

Chris and I seem to be in the minority though 'cause as far as I can tell night owls far out number morning people. For many people the night shift would be great, but for me, it's awful. Today, on my day off, I woke up at noon which makes me feel like my whole day is shot to hell before it even starts. Granted, I still got my eight hours since I went to bed at 4 am, but I always feel like there just aren't enough hours of daylight on the night shift. Especially since Chris still has to go to bed early. *sigh* stupid night shift.

Luckily, I have the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion to entertain me. I was highly grumpy the other day after waking up and realizing I only had a few hours before I had to be to work. I didn't want to just sit on the couch and watch t.v. because I feel like such a slug working nights, so I decided to make some cookies. This recipe is what I chose, and it did an amazing job of cheering me up.

Peanut butter, honey roasted peanuts, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips all combined in a wonderfully chewy, rich cookie with lots of crunch and texture. These cookies don't quite beat out the Magnolia Peanut Butter cookies, but they are damned close.



Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups chopped, dry roasted salted peanuts (I used honey roasted)
1 1/3 cups peanut butter chips or chocolate chips (I used about a cup of each)

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpats.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, peanut butter, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour, peanuts and chips.

Drop the dough by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes until they are set and brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.