Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies

 I guess I never realized how divided people seem to be about peanut butter. Some people absolutely LOVE it, can't get enough of it, and eat it with a spoon right out of the jar.... and then there are others who simply don't care for it, (which, btw, makes absolutely no sense to me).  Clearly, I'm in the first group!
 So here's another fabulous treat for all of my friends who worship in the house of peanut butter. Actually, I think this is now my "go to" recipe for peanut butter cookies. You know how some peanut butter cookies are kinda dry? Well, these cookies stay moist and chewy, just like cookies were meant to be! I got the recipe from my niece, Kristin, whose motto is "the peanut butterier, the better." I totally concur! And you know how I'm always going on about a recipe which only uses a tiny bit of the key ingredient. More is More!!!! So you can imagine how excited I was to get a recipe that uses a WHOLE jar! You just KNOW they're gonna be awesome!! oh, btw,...... Kristin gave me this recipe a while ago, (actually about a million years ago) but it has taken me forever to get to it because I kept eating the peanut butter, which would leave me with less than a whole jar.....not enough for the recipe....time to go buy some more! ...Better get a gallon of milk while I'm there!
Thanx Kristin!

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 (18 ounce) jar peanut butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped peanuts

	In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, yolk, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in peanut butter. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, stir in the peanuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.
	Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
	Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten in a criss cross pattern with a fork dipped it flour. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should look dry on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool completely on a rack. These cookies taste great when slightly undercooked. Tips:  This makes an extremely soft cookie dough, so you really need to chill it in the fridge for two hours before you bake. Keep that in mind when you're planning your baking. Maybe make the dough ahead of time, and keep the dough covered in the fridge. Then you'll be all set when you're ready to bake.  Also make sure you let them cool on the tray for a few minutes when you take them out of the oven. They need that extra time to set up. Otherwise, they may break apart when you attempt to transfer them to a cooling rack.  I didn't add the chopped peanuts because I didn't have any on hand, so, I guess they can be an optional ingredient. Just sayin'.  Instead of greasing the cookie sheet, try baking your cookies on a sheet of parchment paper. You can use the same sheet of paper for the whole batch of cookies and they make for easy clean up when you're finished! You can also use a silpat, which is a silicone baking mat. It fits right into a half sheet pan, and nothing sticks to it!