Polvoron-Cum-Peanut Butter Cookies

I've been thinking about what to do with the leftover ingredients from my birthday brunch for. A big part of my brunch menu was a do-it-yourself smorgasbord of pancake and french toast toppings. So I've been debating whether to turn the leftover chocolate chips into muffins, or cookies, or perhaps something with the honey and sliced bananas, or the whole jar of peanut butter I have left. So after scouring the internet for recipe ideas, while at the same time discovering new food blogs along the way, I settled on a peanut butter cookie recipe from Bakeorbreak.com. The writeup said that it won rave reviews from everyone who had tried it and after making it myself today, I have to say that it was definitely a good choice.

Now why and how polvorn-cum-peanut butter cookies? Well, it was a result of my tweaking of the recipe both intentionally and not. I used chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, an excellent decision. I didn't have any vannila essence lying around either so I omitted that. I also didn't bother sprinkling sugar on top because I found the batter sweet enough. The result was a truly delicious peanut butter chocolate chip cookie with a powdery texture. Similar to that of polvoron, a Philippine candy.

Powdery, you say to yourself, and like polvoron? That's because I completely forgot to add the egg!!! But I swear, the cookies came out tasting great and if you like polvoron then you'll surely love it because one may argue that it's almost like peanut butter polvoron vs. a cookie with a chunkier crunch and powdery texture. Try it, trust me, it's good.

1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar (plus more for sprinkling cookies)*
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until fluffy.

Add sugar and brown sugar, beating until smooth.

Add egg (or NOT!), mixing well. Add milk and vanilla extract. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until combined.

Stir in peanut butter chips (or chocolate chips, in this case).

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Leave several inches between cookies.

Lightly indent the tops of the cookies with a fork. Do not overly flatten cookies. Sprinkle each cookie lightly with sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies may not look done, but do not overbake. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.