My friend Diane is a great baker so when she posted this yummy-looking photo of a batch of cookies she made, I knew I had to share it with you.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ tsp. kosher salt
• ¾ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for pressing
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup natural, unsweetened peanut butter, stirred well
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup miniature chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coat two cookies sheets with cooking spray or line them with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cayenne and baking soda.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for 2 minutes. Add the peanut butter, egg and vanilla to the creamed mixture and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips.
5. Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on the prepared sheets at least 2 inches apart. Using a fork dipped in sugar, gently press a crisscross pattern in the top of each cookie, flattening it out to a 2-inch circle.
6. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking process. Allow the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, then move them to baking racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for 1 month.

Yields 24 cookies.

Adapted from this recipe.