There are many things in this life that I will never understand.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter I howsweeteats.com

Girls wearing straight up padded fancy bras to the gym and the real-life breakup of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams name a few, but one that utterly blows my mind is that there are people in this universe who don’t agree that the combo of chocolate and peanut butter can work miracles.

I just don’t get why we can’t see eye to eye.

I will never… comprehend. Makes no sense in my pea-sized brain.

Remember the days when you needed to run to the store to grab peanut butter and actually could find… peanut butter? Like, not peanut butter combined with chocolate or honey or almonds or raisins or bacon?

I barely do.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter I howsweeteats.com

I don’t know when this crazy trend of flavored peanut butter started, but I do remember going to the store in my youth and seeing actual PLAIN peanut butter on the shelves and only that. And I certainly remember the day I discovered the souped up goods: about three weeks out from my first fitness competition, I spied both white chocolate wonderful and dark chocolate dreams in my local market and just HAD to buy them, even though I couldn’t consume them for nearly 21 days or some ridiculous amount of time like that. Pure torture. Let’s just say that the morning after that show, I consumed about half of a jar in record time then almost yacked my brains out while teaching spinning.

It was totally worth it though. I still live and die for both of those flavors and if they are missing from my pantry I lose my head.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter I howsweeteats.com

But whatever.

I added cookie dough to my own peanut butter so feel free to punch me in the face. That’s sort of how I felt when I was folding dough into the creamy contents of my food processor… just… so… wrong. But right? While we don’t have a world class recipe on our hands here, it sure beats paying $16 for a small jar of ground peanuts stuffed with dried fruit and chocolate chips. Right right? It’s simple, it’s quick, it’s fun and it’s fabulous eaten with only a spoon.

…I should know.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter I howsweeteats.com

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter

[cookie dough came from the cookie dough pb cups]

2 cups unsalted peanuts

for cookie dough:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons flour (I used coconut flour!)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk vanilla extract. Let sit and cool completely, about 20 minutes. Stir in powdered sugar, salt and flour, then once mixed, add in mini chocolate chips and then place in the fridge to set for 20-30 minutes.

Add peanuts to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse and process until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Taste and if desired, add a bit of salt. Remove “dough” from the fridge and crumble with your hands. Fold as much of the dough you’d like into the peanut butter, then store in a seal-tight container. It is usually recommended that homemade nut butters be refrigerated – depending on how quickly we consume them (like this one), I will often let them sit out for a week and they are fine.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter I howsweeteats.com

That is all.