I have a few go-to recipes when I’m wanting to get cozy on the couch and watch a movie. Peanut butter cookies top the list (my crab dip is up there, too). My husband and I whip these up from time-to-time and we eat half of the dough before it even makes it into the oven. Then, we basically walk the dough past the oven’s heating element so we can eat warmed dough. I’m not exaggerating, here. Our peanut butter cookies are so doughy coming out of the oven that they fall apart as you pick them up.

Then, after we’ve eaten our fill, we cook the rest to a more traditional consistency and store them in a sealed container where they sit for a week until we slowly feed them to the dogs as treats. I mean, who eats peanut butter cookies after they’ve cooled down? Dogs, that’s who.

I feel like I need to make a full disclosure, here. I don’t like baking desserts and I don’t like making breakfast. So my husband is actually the one who has refined this recipe over the years, and when I say “we” whip them up, I mean that I sit on the couch and drink while he makes them. Ok, I feel a lot better, now.

I do deserve credit, however, for reminding him to preheat the oven. After the 14th time that he forgot to preheat the oven, I amended the recipe to help the guy out. He still forgets half of the time despite my extremely helpful contributions. I don’t know how, I mean, look at the recipe:

The “normal degrees” notation is also for my husband, who grew up in Canada, where they use the metric system. While I concede that the metric system is far simpler and makes far more sense, we debate about which is correct all the time.

As an American, I submit that the Imperial system is right because I said so and because I don’t want to have to re-learn which temperature water freezes at. I KNOW IT’S ZERO, but I’m American, so it’s 32° and don’t try to convince me otherwise. It is 32, right? Imperial is very confusing.

Anyway, that’s just the first page of the recipe. You have to flip past the cover to get to the actual recipe, and look what’s there:

There’s even another reminder on the back. And he STILL forgets. I don’t know, man. Gotta love him. Especially because he’s making me peanut butter cookies.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup peanut butter
• 1/2 Cup butter softened
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 Cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Steps

NOW IS THE TIME TO PREHEAT THE OVEN, NATE! Combine the first four ingredients in a mixer. Add the egg and combine. Combine the dry ingredients and mix, and then add them to the wet ingredients in the mixer.

Put spoonfuls of dough onto a buttered baking sheet or a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press a fork into the top in a criss-crossing pattern to create that familiar peanut butter cookie look.

Bake at 375°F for 1-10 minutes, depending on desired done-ness. All joking aside, we cook them for about 5 minutes so that they are just cooked but still soft as hell. You should probably aim for 8 or 9 minutes if you want them slightly browned and firmer. That’s the wrong way to eat them, but I understand that some people are freaks.