By Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 12 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.
I made Christmas cookies this week — the winter version, the one that fills the kitchen with the smell that means this time of year, this stage of life, this specific Tuesday when the stove is warm and the family is fed and the feeding is the point. Kevin ate seconds. The man always eats seconds. The eating is the approval and the approval is the marriage.
January. The real winter. Dark and cold, the wind off the prairie personal in its grudge. We endure with soup and blankets and the belief that spring comes eventually. I made bread — sourdough from the starter named Marlene, the bread rising in a warm kitchen while Iowa does its worst outside.
The Christmas cookies I made this week weren’t complicated — they never are, not really, not the ones that matter. These four-ingredient peanut butter chocolate cookies are exactly that kind: the kind you make when the wind is doing its worst and the house needs a smell that means warmth and intention and someone who loves you enough to turn on the oven. Kevin ate seconds. He always eats seconds. That’s enough.
4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 22 minutes | Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix the dough. In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, sugar, and egg until a thick, uniform dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Portion. Scoop the dough by rounded tablespoons and roll into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Press. Use a fork to gently flatten each ball with a crosshatch pattern, pressing to about 1/2-inch thickness.
- Bake. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set. The centers will look slightly underdone — that’s correct. Do not overbake.
- Cool. Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They firm up as they cool.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 118 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 52mg