Ingredients

• 1 cups (two sticks) softened butter
• 1-1/2 cups real maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups natural style chuncky peanut butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1 extra cup flour

Directions

Beat the softened butter with maple syrup until creamy.

Add vanilla, eggs and peanut butter. Beat well, until creamy again.

In a separate bowl, stir together the salt, soda, and 2-1/2 cups flour until well mixed. Add gradually to peanut butter mixture, mixing very well after each addition.

With the remaining 1 extra cup flour, mix in 1/4 cup at a time until you reach a good cookie dough consistency. You don’t want the dough to be crumbly at all, or the cookies will come out far too dry. But, you also don’t want it to be too sticky because then they will be too gooey.

If you mix in all of the 1 extra cup flour and the dough is still too gooey to be cookie dough, mix in a little more flour until it is right.

Because of the maple syrup, the dough will be stickier than normal cookie dough, but it needs to be firm enough to hold its form during baking.

Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls, place on ungreased cookie sheets. Using a fork dipped in flour, press each cookie with the fork to make a criss-cross imprint on top.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes; remove from oven. Let cool on cookie sheet for two or three minutes before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

This recipe should make about 48 cookies.