Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Mix the peanut butter, sugar, and applesauce. Add vanilla and mix well. 

Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt (if using). 

Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix and fold and press together until all dry ingredients are incorporated. 

It will be a stiff dough. 

Add chocolate chips and press and mix them into the dough until they are fairly evenly dispersed. 

Some will fall out of the dough but you can scoop them up with the cookie scoop as you scoop them onto the baking sheets. Or eat them. 

Scoop and press the dough into the cookie scoop until packed firmly. Deposit onto the baking sheet. These don't spread much, so you can put them fairly close together. See my blog post for pictures. 

If you want to flatten them, use a flat bottomed drinking glass. If the dough sticks justs slip a flat spatula in between dough and glass to separate. 

Bake for 8-9 minutes. They will be very soft, but turning golden. 

Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies to the rack. 

Use a thin, sturdy spatula and a gentle hand to transfer them. They will be tender until they are completely cool. 

Store in an airtight container. If they aren't all devoured in a day, they'll keep at room temperature for several days. I like to freeze them. They only take a short time to thaw...but they are excellent frozen too. 

Freeze in an airtight container with parchment separating the layers, if stacking.