My daughters have been showing more of an interest in cooking the last few weeks. My 10 year old prepared these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, with a little help from mom, that were easy to make and delicious.

A lot of parents write asking about culinary schools for their kids and I usually tell them about a few chain schools I’ve come across but then explain that cooking at home in your own kitchen with your children is the best schooling they can get. It’s a great time to teach them an important life skill and have fun at the same time.

Here’s the recipe, but be sure to read the short interview I did with my daughter after she made them. It’s sort of like my Novice2Pro interviews I do with professional chefs but for kids.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2-cup butter, let it come to room temperature
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-cup peanut butter
• 1/2-teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2-teaspoon salt
• 3/4-cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4-cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

How to Prepare at Home

Remember, you always want to be around with your kids when you are working with a hot oven, sharp tools or kitchen appliances. This is a great time to teach them about being responsible with kitchen equipment while showing them how these tools are used.

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

The term is “cream” the butter and white & brown sugar which just means to beat the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Add the vanilla extract and egg. Mix everything together. Add the peanut butter, baking soda, salt and stir to combine well. Finally add the flour and chocolate chips and mix together.>

Using a greased cookie sheet to bake the cookies, drop small amounts of the cookie dough onto the sheet. Using a fork or spoon, flatten the dough slightly.

Bake the cookies for about 5 minutes until the edges just start to turn brown being careful not to overcook. When the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

The trick is not eating them before they are cooled. These cookies are delicious and fun to make with your kids.

Interview with 10 Year Old Home Cook Nell

What made you decide to make cookies? I decided to make the cookies for friends who were coming over. Also we were making pizza for dinner and so I thought cookies would go well with it.

How did you decide on Peanut Butter cookies with Chocolate Chips? I didn’t know what kind of cookies I wanted to make but I didn’t want to make just plain chocolate chip. So I looked it up and I found something that looked pretty easy to make and would be very quick so that I could also entertain my friend.

Did you have any help from anyone and if so what help did you get? When I decided I wanted to make Peanut Butter and Chocolate chip cookies I had help from my Dad to get all the ingredients. When I started making the cookies I also had a little help from my mom.

What was the hardest part of making these cookies? The hardest part of making the cookies was making sure the butter was soft enough. But none of the cookie making was that hard.

If you made them again, would you change anything? I would probably let the butter stay out longer so it was softer and easier to mix.

What did you learn from making these cookies? I learned from making the cookies that you should let them sit 10 or 15 minutes after you make them so they can cool down and kind of harden or else they might fall apart.

How did they turn out? My peanut butter chocolate chip cookies turned out great and a lot of other people loved them to!

Would you make them again? I would make them again, but I would probably make them at a party because a lot of people liked them.

Thanks for this interview,

RG (dad)