Peanut Butter Cookies

When I was small, I was often sent to school with a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. In Australia, PB&J is not nearly as common as just plain old PB. The thing with peanut butter sandwiches, was that they somewhat easy to get sick of. Or maybe that's just being a kid. In any case, peanut butter sandwich lunches came to me in the same way as all the other lunches I got: in bursts.

Day 1, Mum would supply a peanut butter sandwich. It would taste sensational. For some reason, I would always forget how good they tasted. Day 2, continue to revel in the awesomeness that is PB. Day 4, starting to get a bit bored of PB, and is the bread a little stale? Day 6, please...please...no more PB. By this point, I'd have probably complained to my Mum about it, and the next day, magically, lunch would be different. Maybe ham, maybe roast beef, maybe turkey (if I was very lucky). And so the cycle would continue.

As an adult, I eat less peanut butter these days. Somehow, though, it taste better than it used to. And it was only this year that I began to really, really appreciate the stuff. The chief contributor to my new found affection is none other than Costco. How I now love peanut butter. And how I love Costco.

You see, Costco opened its massive warehouse doors for the first time in Australia last year. I was instantly a member. My second trip there, we came back with four 1.5kg bags of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (Mini). And so the obsession began.

It was during this mad PB craze that I was searching for more ways to use my giant, industrial, Costco sized jar of peanut butter. I stumbled upon these peanut butter cookies. Now, for those of you who don't know, I've been toying with the idea of making Chinese peanut or almond cookies for some time now. This seemed like a good avenue to explore. I was not mistaken. They were yummy. And they disappeared quickly (speed of vanishing is how I judge my baking).

Let me know how you go with it :) .

Peanut Butter Cookie (adapted from Joy of Baking)
Original recipe here.

3/4 cup butter*
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup peanut butter**
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
*I often use salted butter for baking cookies, simply because I like the taste, feel free to use reduced salt or unsalted if you prefer.
**I have tried this recipe with both smooth and crunchy peanut butter, and they both work very well. If you opt to go the crunchy way, make it an extra generous 3/4 cup.

Preheat oven to 170°C line a cookie sheet with baking paper.

Beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients and beat to combine.

Roll the batter into 1 inch balls and place on lined cookie sheet, squashing them a little flatter as you do. Then, using a fork, press into each cookie twice, making the checkered pattern you see above.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove and cool. Devour.

Double Chocolate Cookies

My parents, as many of you may have gathered, have a lot of friends. Maybe more than me... One of them is obsessed with my white chocolate macadamia cookies. In fact any time that I bake any cookie, she wants to take a big stack home. Which is fine. I don't mind. Except that they cost me to make! Anything with nuts in it will cost me at about $8-10 to produce (I'm generous with my nuts you see). Anything involving chocolate, and the price shoots up as well. Macarons cost a small fortune to make what with almond meal being so expensive (I've taken to ordering kilo bags of the stuff to cut down the cost).

It turns out that baking is an expensive hobby. Who knew?

So, naturally, I don't like to waste things. Which in turn leads to the creation of these double chocolate cookies.

I had a large bowl of melted chocolate and butter left over from dipping my eclairs into. I thought chocolate cookies might be a good way to use it up. And I was not disappointed. Now excuse me as I go enjoy a cookie with a nutty sort of smile on my face.

Double Chocolate Cookies (adapted from the Donna Hay Chocolate book)
Makes about 35 cookies or so, depending on the size of each.

150g dark chocolate
100g butter
3/4cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
1cup (150g) plain/all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4cup (30g) cocoa powder, sifted
1tsp baking soda
1 1/2cups dark chocolate chips, or plain dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Melt together the butter and the dark chocolate, until smooth and glossy.

Mix together the sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and butter mixture, mixing well. Stir in the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Place on baking sheets and flatten slightly, spacing them out to allow for spreading. Bake at 160°C for 10-12 minutes, or until cracks begin to appear on the surface of the cookie. 

Butter Cookies

I remember when I was little we'd often go around to my parent's friend's houses for public holidays. There'd always be sumptuous feasts, games (for both kids and adults), hours of TV and Royal Dansk Butter Cookies in a big blue round tin. My parents aren't big on the sweets, so we never bought these cookies ourselves, which only made those at other people's homes extra special. The piped ones always went first. And then the pretzel ones. And then nobody would have any room left for the crappy ones (another reason why we didn't buy any: the tins never get finished). 

It had been a long time since I last had one of these cookies from a tin. And I missed them. So like any food blogger worth her sugar, I baked some. 

They were really good. 

And then my Mother gave them all away. I only had 4! 4!

Oh well...an excuse to make another batch I suppose.

Danish Butter Cookies

125g butter*

45g icing sugar

135g plain/all purpose flour

1tsp vanilla essence

1/2tsp baking powder**

*I always like to use salted butter, simply because I like the hit of saltiness among the sweet, but by all means use unsalted if you prefer.

**The baking powder is optional. Most butter cookie recipes are without it, but I like to give my cookies a bit extra crisp fluffiness.

These have got to be the easiest cookies I've ever made. All done in one bowl, with a hand mixer. Simply cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and creamy. Add the sifted flour and baking powder and mix in. Add the vanilla essence and beat in. And the batter is done!

Line a cookie sheet with baking paper. Spoon everything into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe into circles, or whatever shape you want. I found that the batter was a bit too stiff for piping, so I gave it a couple seconds in the microwave until it was pipable. Take care not to nuke it for more than 5-10 seconds at a time though, or you might end up with a melted butter soup. Bake at 150°C for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.

Try to refrain from eating all of them withing the hour.