Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

These are such awesome peanut butter cookies..... super peanut butter-y and melt in your mouth. They also hold up really well for several days without getting dried out because there's so much peanut butter in the dough, so they're definitely a good contender for mailing or giving. And I love that they look like cute little ice cream scoops of cookie.

Adapted from NY Times

113 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
75 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
85 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) dark brown sugar
255 grams (1 cup) natural unsweetened creamy peanut butter (I like Whole Foods brand)
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon kosher salt
120 grams (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
coarse sugar and flaky salt for the tops

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Cream until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the peanut butter, egg, and kosher salt, and mix well. Add the flour, and mix just until you can't see any more dry flour. Cover and refrigerate the dough until well-chilled, about 2 hours (or longer).

Preheat oven to 350° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a small ice cream or cookie scoop, form cookies - these are made with a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop. (You can also just roll the dough in little balls, but you won't get that nice craggy top.) Roll the tops of the cookies in coarse sugar, and then sprinkle the tops with a little flaky salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned. (I often pull cookies out of the oven when they're just barely done, but you can leave these in a little longer, until they're nice and golden; since they're so thick, it takes a while to bake them all the way through.)

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

*This dough also freezes really nicely; I usually form the cookies (don't roll them in sugar yet), and then freeze them well-wrapped. You can bake them directly from frozen - they just might take a minute or two longer in the oven.