Peanut Butter Pecan cookies

In my book, Moments of Delight, I mentioned discovering a delicious peanut butter pecan cookie at a little bake shop up north and I was determined to recreate the deliciousness in my own kitchen. I finally mastered the recipe and I am sharing it with you today.

Peanut Butter Pecan cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup JIF reduced-fat chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon 2% milk
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup, chopped raw pecans (chop pieces to the size of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, salt and peanut butter together. Beat in white and brown sugar and eggs until fluffy. Beat in milk. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and chopped pecans together and add to butter mixture. Beat until incorporated. Using two spoons or a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop, place dough onto Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool on a baking rack.

After baking, you could glaze some pecan halves in a saute pan with butter and brown sugar and then "stick" one to the top of each cookie. In this photo, I simply topped each cookie with a plain pecan half to make it pretty. These cookies are chewy and addictive! Enjoy.