Peanut Butter Cookies With Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Inspired by Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 24-30 cookies

Ingredients:

½ C shortening
½ C + 1/3 C creamy peanut butter, divided (I like Trader Joes no-stir organic PB)
½ C firmly packed light brown sugar
½ C white sugar
1 large egg
1 T + 1 t vanilla
1 ¼ C all-purpose flour
½ t kosher salt
¾ T baking soda
2-3 T heavy cream
2 ounces full fat cream cheese
1 C powdered sugar
Milk to moisten
¾ C semi-sweet chocolate chips to sprinkle

Direction:

• In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugars, eggs, and 1 T vanilla on high until creamed together. Add the soda and salt to the flour and add these dry ingredients one third at a time, blending each time until the flour is well mixed. After the second batch of flour, add a bit of cream if it looks crumbly. (When you’re using a more pure peanut butter, without the additives, it may need a little more liquid.)
• Preheat ove to 375. Take some dough and make it into about a 1 inch ball. Set on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes or until the bottom is brown and the top starts to crack JUST a little. Remove and cool.
• To make the frosting, add the 1/3 C peanut butter to the 2 ounces of cream cheese as well as another teaspoon of vanilla extract and blend well with a fork or hand mixer. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and blend well. Can cut with a little cream. It really helps the consistency. This frosting will stay tacky which makes it easy to set the little semi-sweet morsels atop the cookies but hard to cover the cookies! You can freeze them but the icing won’t be quite a pretty. I recommend you eat them all!