I’m not sure if you are all aware of this, but the New York Football Giants won the Super Bowl a week ago today.  Victor Cruz celebrated with a salsa dance, the city of New York celebrated with an awesome ticker tape parade,  and Ava Frances Manning celebrated by being especially adorable.

I was a nervous wreck in the time leading up to the game. I come from a family of long-time Eli-lovers. Over the years, we’ve had to listen to our fair share of Manning-bashing. Some of these criticisms were justified (he did, perhaps throw one too many interceptions during the 2010 season), and some were absurd (complaints about Eli’s body language, which have suddenly morphed into praise for the quarterback’s icy calm in the wake of two super bowl victories). My confidence in Eli is unshakable. I think he is every bit as good of a quarterback as his brother is, and I believe the New York Giants have built a solid foundation over the last five years that allows Eli to shine.

Still. Any game when Eli gets sacked enough to make his jersey this dirty puts me on the edge of my seat. To have to face one of the great all-time quarterbacks two weeks later is enough to make even this true believer just the tiniest bit nervous for Eli.

And so, I cooked. I went over to a friend’s house for the super bowl, and was determined to make myself useful by cooking. At least, that’s what I told myself at first. As I spent Saturday morning in the kitchen, another reason for my dedicated preparation of chicken wings, potato salad and cookies occurred to me. Perhaps, I was trying to bribe the football gods into granting us a win?

Well, all I can tell you is that these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are damn delicious, and the Giants won the Super Bowl. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions . . .

These cookies are based both on this recipe for peanut butter cookies, and on my memory of the incredibly delicious cookies of the Chocolate Room in Brooklyn, NY.

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients: (Makes about two dozen cookies)

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (natural/unsweetened)

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1  large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Sea Salt, for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and cut out parchment paper to fit two cookie sheets.

2. Whisk together the dry ingredients, with the exception of the chocolate chips and sea salt (whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and fine salt).

3. Cream the butter, sugar, peanut butter and egg until combined and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. You can use either a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this step—just make sure that the butter is soft before you begin.

4. Pour the dry ingredients into the peanut butter/sugar mixture, and stir with a  wooden spoon to combine. Add the chocolate chips, and stir to mix in.

5. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of batter per cookie, and lay on to the baking sheet at least one and a half inches from surrounding cookies. Flatten the cookies using the back of a fork, and sprinkle each cookie with coarse sea salt.

6. Bake for ten minutes, rotating the cookie sheets after five minutes. Let cool on the tray until firm enough to move to a cooling rack. Continue making in batches until all of the dough is used.

Total Carbs: 300

Carbs per Serving: 12