Better for you Peanut Butter Cookies

So these cookies are a great little treat when you feel like having some dessert, but don't feel like going overboard. These came from the Weight Watchers website and turned out pretty good! As I type this, the last batch is finishing up in the oven and the house smells like peanut butter cookies! It is the perfect night to be baking, chilly and very Autumn like. Of course, a well know fact is that while I bake I have to listen to the greats like Ella, Frank, Billy, Bing, etc. If you can't figure out what sort of music that involves, I'm sure you could Google it and Wikipedia would pop up and tell you what I'm listening too! So I've got my laptop cranking out those old time crooners and I swear it makes all of my baking turn out that much better! Now on to the important stuff, the cookies.

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Beat together 1/4 of a cup of room temp. butter along with 1 cup of white sugar and 1/2 of a cup of peanut butter(or in my case, as much as you can scrap out of the last of the peanut butter!). This is where you can really beat together all the ingredients and get them nice and fluffy. I would say a good 2-3 minutes will give you a nice cookie texture in the end. Don't just mix a little until blended, really get that mixture fluffy and soft. I will get smart one of these times and start taking pictures of what each important step looks like. I just get so into it I forget! Next, beat in 2 eggs and a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Once the eggs and vanilla are WELL incorporated, it is time for the dry ingredients. (My boss always says that when you type in all capitals, it looks like you are yelling, so I am politely telling you to mix your eggs WELL, or you will have chunks of cooked eggs in your cookie. That sounds tasty.) Add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Mix until these are just incorporated. You don't want to over beat your dry ingredients or you will ruin the texture of your cookie, even cause them not to rise at all. Beat the heck out of wet ingredients. Gently mix your dry ingredients.

Now line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take a heaping teaspoon of the batter and drop onto cookie sheet. These cookies really spread and get thin and crunchy, so place 2-3 inches apart. On a standard cookie sheet, 8 is the max you want on there. Take a plastic spatula and flatten out the cookies by patting them on the top, if you try to spread them, it just makes a mess. Next place a chocolate chip right in the middle.  Bake 10 minutes. Once out of the oven, leave on the baking sheet for a few minutes so the cookies can set up, then move to cooling rack.



These cookies are the perfect snack. They are not overly sweet, almost more of breakfast cookie. I personally love that whole wheat taste, but if you don't, you can switch the wheat to regular all-purpose flour. They are crunchy, not chewy, which is just how I like my cookies! If you are keeping track, the cookies are 2 Weight Watchers point; I'm guessing a regular cookie would be about 8-10 points. YIKES! So these are a great treat without breaking the scale! Enjoy!