Best ever PB chocolate chip cookies

One of our new after school traditions this year is having a snack together every afternoon. I usually have something relatively healthy--frozen yogurt bananas, or yogurt and granola, or apple slices and PB, or carrots, stuff like that. But on Friday afternoons, we celebrate the beginning of the weekend with cookies.
Today I want to share my favorite cookie recipe with you. It comes from a Nestle "Best-Loved Cookies" cookbook. 

Chunky Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup PB
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

1. Cream together butter, sugars, and PB. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and peanuts. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
2. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes and then remove from cookie sheet and cool completely.
3. Serve with a tall glass of milk and listen to your kids tell you about their day at school!

Kate's Cooking Class

So if you are friends with me on Facebook, you might remember me talking about starting a kids' cooking class a month or so ago. Well, this is week three and (so far) it's a great success!

I limit my classes to only three kids--I only have three barstools at the counter, plus I can't imagine being able to really give enough attention and hands-on experience to more than three kids at a time. I teach a class on Tuesday afternoon and another class on Thursday afternoon, which is just perfect!

Here's the set up from our first class. I provided each kid with an apron, a recipe book, and a small tupperware container to take their creations home in. I also bought three sets of mixing bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, wooden spoons, and whisks so that the students don't have to share. All of this was covered by a registration fee.

I also made up simple cooking checklists and had them laminated. The kids mark off each step with a washable marker as they work, and then we wipe them clean at the end of the lesson. You might notice that I incldue "wipe counterspace", "do dishes", and "sweep floor" on the checklists--cleanup is a part of cooking!!

Each week we make a simple recipe--the kids do all the steps themselves--and then have another activity to do while the recipe is cooking or chilling (after we've cleaned up, of course!), starting with decorating their aprons with permanent markers. So far we've made peanut butter energy balls, pear and cranberry crisp, and mini popovers and easy berry sauce. It's been really fun and I'm happy with how much interest I've had! I will be filling more classes over the summer and then again when school starts, so if any of you Davis County readers have 6-11 year olds that might be interested, shoot me an email!