Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies @MaddieDayAuthor #ValentinesDay #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here. Valentine's Day is next week. On that day I will also be celebrating twenty years with my Hugh!

This pic is from five years after we met, when we both still looked a lot younger than we do now! After the first year, we always enjoy something chocolate on our day.

Anyway, you're here for book talk and a recipe, not my memories. So let's get to it. 

I've never written a Valentine's Day mystery - yet - but I can imagine lots of mayhem. What if someone injected chocolates with poison? Or took their supposed beloved on a love cruise that went terribly wrong? 

Well, there's nothing malevolent about these delicious, tender cookies. If you or a loved one has a peanut allergy - sorry, this recipe isn't for you. For everyone else, dig in. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from Amandascookin.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup cocoa (don’t pack into measuring cup)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
 
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease or line with parchment paper two large cookie sheets.
 
Combine butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. 

Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.

 
Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
 
Drop by heaping tablespoonsful (using a cookie scoop works great) two inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in straight or crisscross pattern with tines of fork. Dip fork in water to avoid sticking.
 
Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Don't overbake - these are wonderfully soft. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Carefully remove cookies to racks to cool completely.

Enjoy with a hot drink or a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside.

Note: For an easier method, you can also press all the dough into a rimmed sheet pan and cut into squares when done. They are just as tasty and don't take as long!

Readers: How do you like your chocolate and/or peanut butter? As a special Valentine's gift, I'll send one commenter one of my author aprons!

💗🍪💗

Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries, is out!

Murder Uncorked, Cece Barton Mystery #1, released in late October.

Next to release is A Case for the Ladies, my new Dot and Amelia mystery, out March 12!

Check out all my writing:

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.