Peanut Covered Peanut Butter Cookie Slabs

The dough is formed into a large slab, chilled and then sliced into uniform smaller slabs for baking. You can vary the preferred thickness of your cookies. Cooled dough slices easily, but frozen dough has a tendency to crumble.

• Ready In: 29 mins
• Yields: 15 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup  smooth peanut butter, room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 1⁄3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1  large egg
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1  cup  coarsely chopped lightly salted peanuts

Directions

1. Sift the flour and baking soda into a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and peanut butter just to blend them together.
3. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.
4. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until smoothly blended, about 30 seconds.
5. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until thoroughly blended, about 1 minute.
6. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated.
7. Form the dough into a rough 5x3x2 1/2" rectangular slab.
8. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to firm the dough slightly.about 30 minutes.
9. Shape the rectangle again and rewrap it (this makes the shape more defined).
10. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours, or overnight, until it is cold and firm.or wrap it tightly and freeze for up to 1 month, thaw in the refrigerator before using.
11. Position a rack in the middle of the oven.
12. Preheat the oven to 350°F; line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
13. Unwrap the cold dough.
14. Use a large sharp knife to cut the dough into 15 1/3" thick slices.and place the cookies 3" apart on the prepared baking sheet.
15. sprinkle about 1 tbsp of the chopped peanuts evenly over the top of each cookie, and press the peanuts gently but firmly into the dough.
16. This pressing will make the cookies spread about an additional 1/2".
17. Bake one sheet at a time until the edges and bottoms are lightly browned, about 14 minutes.
18. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
19. Serve them at room temperature.
20. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days.