In college, there was nothing better than getting that little orange card in your mailbox signifying you had a package waiting for you. My mom ensured that I received my fair share of orange cards during my years away at school. Around every holiday, from St. Nick's Day to Valentine's Day, I could expect an orange card. I'd happily skip up to the mail desk, present my card, and wait for them to hand over the box or manilla envelope. It was always stuffed with my favorite goodies--candy, granola, and non-edible treats like shirts, dorm room decorations, and whatever other fun stuff she found. (By the way, my mom STILL sends me packages. Best mom ever, right? I hope I never get too old for those...)

Now that my brother is in college, I can't help but want to pass along the excitement of receiving packages at school. When he hinted that my frequent tweets about food were making him hungry, I knew I owed him some cookies. His only requirement were that I not send anything weird. Chocolate and peanut butter are anything but weird, so I chose to make him some chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. These were a staple in our house growing up and I hadn't had them in years. In fact, I was tempted to keep a few cookies back for myself....but then remembered Quinn's giant appetite and decided I'd better send them all! I did sneak one warm from the oven and they were just as good as I recalled--intense chocolate flavor with the sweetness of peanut butter. I must say, dropping these off at the post office and picturing my brother receiving them was far more satisfying than stuffing my face with a dozen cookies!

One Year Ago: Golden Grahams S'mores Bars


Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
adapted from allrecipes.com
*makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup butter, melted
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 egg
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix melted butter with sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips.
2. Chill dough for at least one hour. (*Do not skip this step!!! Cookies are already super flat as it is!) Remove from fridge and preheat oven to 350F. Using a cookie scoop, drop rounded balls of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.