Patriotic Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, combine the butter with the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar until well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, and continue mixing until the eggs are completely incorporated. Now pour the vanilla extract into the cookie dough and mix again for 30 seconds to combine. Add the chunky peanut butter to the bowl and mix for 2 minutes, or until the peanut butter is completely mixed into the dough.

Now add the salt, baking soda, and flour and mix slowly for 2-3 minutes. The dough should be very sticky.

Scoop the dough onto un-greased baking sheets (2-3 tablespoons per cookie) spacing them about 2 inches apart. Use your hand and lightly press the cookie down to form a small disk (do not use a fork).

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Remove pan from the oven and let cookies sit on the pan for a minute before moving them to a cooling rack. Once the cookies are cool to the touch, move them to the refrigerator to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, separate the white chocolate chips into 3 bowls and add 2 teaspoons of shortening to each bowl. Microwave for 60 seconds and stir; then heat for another 30 seconds if needed to melt the chocolate. Add red coloring to one of the bowls and blue to another and keep the other white.

Once the cookies are cooled, place the cookies top side down into the plain white melted chocolate to coat the top of the cookie. Place cookies back on the cookie tray and then put the tray back in the refrigerator or freezer so that the chocolate can harden.

To add the red and blue stripes, use a spoon to spread the red and blue chocolate over ⅓ of the cookie, keeping a white stripe in the middle. Again, place cookies onto the tray and back in the refrigerator or freezer to harden. Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.