Peanut brittle cookies

Starting the apple, dried cranberry, and almond loaf got my baking mojo flowing, so I harnessed that energy to make something else.

I felt like making biscuits and flicked through the Australian Women's Weekly "Bake" (you may have noticed that I have been using it a lot lately!). I came across a recipe for peanut brittle cookies that sounded good.

First I roasted peanuts to make the peanut brittle. I already had the loaf in the oven, so I popped the peanuts in with it. Then I wandered away to do something else, getting distracted and by the time I remembered the peanuts, they had just gotten past the stage of roasted. They weren't burnt, but were very, very close and tasted darker than I would've liked.

Next was the caramel to pour over the peanuts. I was vigilant and stayed at the stove to watch it. It took about 10 minutes for the sugar to deepen and become golden brown – once it started to colour it happened very quickly.



After the brittle was made, it was a quick process to get them the cookies into the oven. 12 minutes in the oven resulted in a soft cookie. I found that the peanut brittle melted in the oven which gave it the cookies a cracked kind of appearance – quite attractive, I thought – but it did make me wonder about the worth of making the brittle! I think I would have preferred a firmer cookie with bits of crunchy brittle, but I can't figure out how to do that without the caramel melting. Any ideas?



Peanut brittle cookies

From Australian Women's Weekly Bake

Makes 18-24


125g butter, softened
1/4 cup (70g) crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 & 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Peanut Brittle
3/4 cup (100g) roasted unsalted peanuts
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
2 tablespoons water

Make peanut brittle: Place nuts on a baking paper lined oven tray. Stir the sugar and water in a small frying pan over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved; bring to the boil. Boil, uncovered, without stirring, until golden brown. Pour mixture over nuts; leave until set. Crush coarsely in food processor.

Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugar and egg in small bowl with electric mixer until combined. Stir in sifted dry ingredients and crushed peanut brittle.

Roll heaped teaspoons of mixture into balls with floured hands. Place about 5cm apart on oven trays; flatten slightly (and top with extra crushed brittle if desired).

Bake cookies for about 12 minutes. Cool on trays.

Peanut butter topped brownies

There are some foods that work so well together. One combination that I adore is peanut butter and chocolate. With my tastes tending to savoury items, I don't generally eat much chocolate, but I do make an exception for these brownies (and Reese's peanut butter cups... YUM).

This recipe is very simple although mine took a while to bake (probably because I was using a deeper, narrower pan). I've made these brownies before and they are always very popular with their slightly salty layer of peanut butter. This time it came out very rich and fudgey, and even though the slices were small, it was pretty sweet. Next time I make them I will reduce the sugar, but I've left the recipe as is below.

Peanut butter topped brownies

Adapted from Should You Eat That

Makes 12-18

150g dark chocolate, chopped
100g unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
75g (½ cup) plain flour
2Tbsp cocoa powder
200g (¾ cup) crunchy peanut butter
½ cup crushed peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC and line the base of a 16 x 26cm pan with baking paper. Let the paper hang over the ends so it is easier to get the brownies out once they are cooked.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium to large mixing bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Then microwave in 15 or 30 second bursts until just melted. Stir til all melted and smooth. Add eggs and sugar to the chocolate mixture along with combined caster sugar, and give a brief stir. Add plain flour & cocoa powder and stir until just combined (don't overmix). It makes quite a stiff batter.

3. Spoon the mixture into prepared pan. If your peanut butter is quite stiff, microwave it until it's fairly runny. Spread the peanut butter over the brownie mixture.

4. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts over the top of the peanut butter, pressing it in slightly into the mixture.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes. It is ok if slightly undercooked. Cool slightly before removing from pan. Let it cool before cutting into slices.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm the kind of person who pounces on baked goods as soon as they come out of the oven. Things just seem to taste so good when they're still warm and the kitchen is still fragrant with the baking aromas.

Naturally, as soon as these cookies came out of the oven, I HAD to try them. And... I was a little bit disappointed. All I could taste was vanilla, and only a bare hint of peanut butter.

Later on, I went back for another one after they had had time to cool. Tasting it again, the vanilla had subsided and the peanut butter had come to the fore. Yey! That was more like it.

The recipe for these cookies is here.

I used crunchy peanut butter, which I would highly recommend. And to get my cookies so round (even I was surprised how well they turned out!) I rolled the dough into balls with my hands and flattened them slightly into discs. They flattened more as they baked.

Try these. They're easy and they taste great. Just try to resist eating one straight out of the oven.