The weather’s been too hot for baking & eating full-on cake this week. All we fancy eating at the moment is salad and have been finishing an evening meal with a bowl of ice cream or a couple of biscuits instead.
Justin bought a jar of peanut butter last week not realising I’d already bought one the day before – so I decided to solve our mini-glut by baking a batch of peanut butter cookies.
The recipe was taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden.
Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 115 g/4oz/1 cup plain flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
- 115 g/4oz/½ cup butter
- 125 g/4½oz/¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar*
- 1 egg
- 5 ml/1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 225 g/8oz/1 cup crunchy peanut butter
Instructions
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light & fluffy
- In another bowl, mix the egg and vanilla extract then gradually beat into the butter mixture
- Stir in the peanut butter and blend thoroughly
- Stir in the dry ingredients
- Chill for at least 30 minutes until firm
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease 2 baking sheets
- Spoon out rounded teaspoonfuls of the cookie mixture and roll into balls
- Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets and press flat with a fork into circles about 6cm/2½ ins in diameter, making a criss-cross pattern
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool
Notes
For extra crunch add 50g/2oz/½ cup chopped peanuts with the peanut butter
*The next time I make these I'd use half & half light brown sugar and Muscavado sugar to give the cookies more depth of flavour.