Velvety peanut butter and choc chip cookies

When I first wrote about these cookies, back in 2011 on a previous recipe blog of mine, peanut butter and chocolate-combined foods were not so common in Australia, save for the Picnic bar with its whole peanuts. Nowadays peanut butter and chocolate is practically a food group, a flavour combination as ubiquitous as wellness coaches, the latter arguably better for one’s health … perhaps.

It may seem hardly worth capturing this recipe for all the similar recipes out there, however there is something about the texture of these cookies that makes them worth adding to the catalogue of recipes immemorial. This is the minimum respectable amount of peanut butter to add, but you could easily go for the full cup. Just add a little more salt. To smooth or crunchy peanut butter it… reader’s choice. However the smooth version aids the whole velvety thing.

INGREDIENTS

125 g unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup brown sugar
⅔ cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1½ cups dark and milk chocolate bits (one or the other is fine also, but the dark and milk chip combo is sehr gut)

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and line a baking tray or two with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and a little fluffy. Add the peanut butter and beat until the mixture is well combined and smooth. Add the vanilla, milk and egg, and continue to beat until the mixture is, well, velvety. Sift in the flour and baking powder, then add the salt and gently fold these into the mixture.

Stir in the chocolate bits and ensure they are mixed through evenly. By now the dough should be quite thick and look good enough to eat. Actually, I do have a taste at this point, firstly because it’s cookie dough, and secondly to check that there is just the right amount of salt to give it an edge.

Using a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking tray, leaving about 5 cm between each spoonful. Bake for about 10–­15 minutes or until just golden, then using a spatula, carefully place the cookies onto a wire rack to cool. The cookies will be very crumbly and soft, so be gentle when transferring them. You need to have a little faith here too ­as the cookies will harden as they cool, leaving just the right amount of softness in the centre.

You should get about 20–­25 cookies out of this batch. If you’re giving these away, as I often do, and their smell alone drives you into a cookie-eating frenzy, you may wish to make a double amount.