It’s sort of weird that I’m sharing a Valentine’s Day recipe for Heart-Shaped Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies while going through major heart break like I’ve never felt before. But I made these cookies to celebrate my beautiful daughter and her new husband who just got married last week. So time to put aside sadness and let the celebrating continue, because we always have way more to be thankful for anyway!
Isn’t it funny how there are so many parallels in life? Like I remember when my dad passed away years ago, and then soon after found out I was pregnant with my daughter. And last week, while feeling the heartbreak of letting go of somebody I love, I got to rejoice seeing my daughter celebrate finding the love of her life! It’s just a reminder of the truth of the bible passage in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that says:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them…
and I was going to stop there, but I love the words, so:
…a time to embrance and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hare, a time for war and a time for peace.
And as much I love those words about how there’s a time for everything, and know they are written just the way they are supposed to be, I sort of feel like these words could be included: a time to love and a time to let go of love. That would surely describe how I feel these days because sometimes love hurts and we have to choose to walk away.
One of the things I’ve learned in my life is that tears and pain don’t have to get wasted. We absolutely can grow and learn from the most difficult times. The thing is, I don’t think everybody is up for that challenge because it’s harder in many ways. In order to learn, it takes really letting ourselves feel the grief and try to identify what happened, why it happened and what role we played. All of those things (at least from what I’ve seen in my own life) can take a lot of time and effort.
What many people do instead (and I’ve done this too) is to find other distractions to make us feel better instead of walking through the pain to allow growth and healing. I think what happens when we do that, is that the pain gets buried and unresolved, only to disrupt or rear it’s ugly head at a later time.
For example, I remember as a younger person, I had never dealt with the painful relationship I had with my mom. I started to see in my twenties and even thirties that I had some anger in my heart. I didn’t know why at the time, but later realized I had unresolved hurt in my past. I give myself a break, because when we’re young we just don’t know what we don’t know. BUT, had I known, maybe I could have made some different choices and had an easier time. Maybe. 🙂
Of course I could go on and on because I’m going through something right now, but today and every day moving forward, I’m going to look for the goodness that is ALL around me. It doesn’t mean I won’t cry or feel sad (because that’s just so natural and normal!), it just means that it won’t stop me from enjoying the beautiful life God has given me and get closer to the person He wants me to be.
So let’s get back to these awesome, buttery and cute cookies for Valentine’s Day – or any time you want to give somebody you love a special treat! Oh, and they work as regular, round cookies. Just drop the scoop onto the parchment paper and press down with a fork.
I also have other peanut butter cookies recipes you can try, including Roasted Peanut Peanut Butter Cookies, Buttery Peanut Butter Cookies.
How to Make Heart-Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookies
To make sure your cookies are buttery, thick and PERFECT, here are few tips:
- Beat the butter & sugar for the full three minutes until creamy. It makes a difference. And don’t melt the butter; room temperature or cool is fine.
- Don’t overbake. They may look a little on the light side baking at 350F for 10 minutes, but as long as the edges look golden brown they should be ok.
- Make sure to let them cool completely before storing them (or they can break).
- Use a 3-inch cookie cutter with a large ice cream scooper. It makes nice, thick cookies that are still melt-in-your-mouth.
Enjoy!
Roasted Peanut Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cups butter 3/4 cups of butter = 1 1/2 sticks
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips I prefer Nestle’s Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1½ cups salted peanuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a separate bowl, or bowl of stand mixer, cream butter with sugar for about 3 minutes, until very creamy. Add peanut butter and beat until well-blended.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla extract. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- With electric mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture until fully incorporated and then add chocolate chips until well-blended.
- Working on baking sheet, fill ice cream scooper with batter, drop into hand and then roll dough in the peanuts, pressing the nuts into the dough. Place on lined cookie sheet spaced a couple inches apart.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.
Roasted Peanut Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cups butter 3/4 cups of butter = 1 1/2 sticks
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips I prefer Nestle’s Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1½ cups salted peanuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a separate bowl, or bowl of stand mixer, cream butter with sugar for about 3 minutes, until very creamy. Add peanut butter and beat until well-blended.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla extract. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
- With electric mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture until fully incorporated and then add chocolate chips until well-blended.
- Working on baking sheet, fill ice cream scooper with batter, drop into hand and then roll dough in the peanuts, pressing the nuts into the dough. Place on lined cookie sheet spaced a couple inches apart.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.
Wedding photos credit: www.emilyjenksphotography.com
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