Blonde Peanut Butter Cookies

Blonde Peanut Butter Cookies

• 23 Jul 2023

For my birthday a friend kindly gave me a book voucher and I used the voucher to buy a copy of Claire Ptak's new book, Love is a Pink Cake. As you know, I just love baking with fruit and nuts and the book is filled to the brim with recipes I can't wait to make.

When I returned from one of my flying visits to Brisbane, the biscuit tin was empty so for my first bake, I adapted Claire's recipe for Big Sur cookies. They were delicious but by Saturday the tin was empty and needed to be refilled. For my second bake I made a batch of the blonde peanut butter cookies from the book. I had to buy some some caramelised white chocolate first, which I love so no hardship there, but everything else was already in the cupboard.

The batch made sixteen 30ml cookies and I baked half and froze the rest. My cookies took way longer than 10 minutes to bake though, more like 15 minutes so use the time as a guide only. I reduced the sugar in the recipe, as is my wont, from 250g to 150g and they were plenty sweet but that may have affected the baking time.

If you'd like to make a batch of these cookies, here's the original recipe for you which makes 12 large cookies or 16 medium size cookies. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. 

Blonde Peanut Butter Cookies - makes 12 cookies 
Ingredients
115g unsalted butter 
250g (I reduced the sugar to 150g) soft light brown sugar
155g crunchy peanut butter 
1 egg 
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
100g plain flour 
75g wholemeal flour
½ tsp baking powder 
½ tsp fine sea salt
150g blonde chocolate or white chocolate, chopped 
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Baker's tip: If you can't find blonde chocolate, you can bake white chocolate (at least 30% cocoa solids) in the oven at 100°C fan/120°C/250°F/gas 2, stirring every 15 minutes until golden and nutty. Spread into a tray to set, then break up and use as chips.

Method
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and peanut butter together. Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla and beat well.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder and sea salt in a separate bowl, then add these dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture along with the chocolate and mix until combined.

Scoop individual portions of cookie dough onto a tray. If using spoons, pat each portion into a little ball then flatten to about 2.5cm (1in) thick. Use a fork dipped in water and press the tines down into the tops of the cookies in a hashtag pattern. Cover and chill or freeze for at least 1 hour. (You can bake them straightaway, but the cookies will be slightly flatter, or freeze them for up to a month, baking off as and when you want them.)

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional, and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. If you are baking from frozen, allow the cookies 5-10 minutes out of the freezer before placing in the oven. Arrange the cookies evenly on the sheet, leaving enough space between each one so they have room to expand during baking.

Sprinkle with a small amount of flaky sea salt and bake for 8 - 10 minutes (my cookies took 16 minutes) until the centre of each cookie is slightly soft and underbaked but the edges are turning crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes before enjoying.

My brother dropped by unexpectedly for afternoon tea and immediately ate 2 of the cookies and said they were good. I've just eaten one of the cookies and I can concur, these are really good cookies and best of all, just perfect for dunking. I'll definitely be making these cookies again.

These cookies were just fabulous and I'll definitely be making these again.

See you all again soon with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian