Heavenly Peanut Butter Cookies
If you live in London, no doubt you must have heard of or been to The Hummingbird Bakery. It’s famous for its cupcakes and pies; what with four locations around London with trendy decor, quiet convenient to get your sugar fix. 🙂 I have had a few items from there and made a couple of recipes from its cookbook. Personally, I find the frosting quiet a bit too buttery/creamy and too sweet that takes over the underlying flavour. However if you have a really sweet tooth, this is heaven for you! When I bake from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, I reduce the sugar content by 10-15% and it works perfectly.
Below is a recipe for some really scrumptious peanut butter cookies. It is a slight variation of the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I made these to cheer up a friend, and indeed it was well worth the effort! Make them to share so you don’t feel guilty for eating them all 🙂 Also, for all you mummies out there, you can get your kids involved in the mixing and spooning steps and turn into a great weekend afternoon activity!
A main ingredient in this recipe is of course the peanut butter! Cookies are not the healthiest of treats, but we should try our best to put in ingredients that can improve the nutritional value. Peanut butter contains roughly 30 percent protein, but eat peanut butter for the healthy fats that it contains. When buying peanut butter, try to buy the most natural kind. Most peanut butter will have hydrogenated oils and sugar in it. The peanuts should have only natural oil and should not require palm or any other kind of oil. The less added ingredients, the better. The only problem is that without preservatives, you have eat it quickly.
The one I used is made by Whole Earth, which contains no added sugar and has 97% peanut content. The cookies were perfect and not overly sweet. For those of you who eat it regularly, get Get Meridian or Old Fashioned Crunchy, close to 100% peanut butter. Alternatively just make your own by blending peanuts in a food processor with pinch of salt. Make it in small batches so there’s no need to worry about long-term storage and you can always make healthy snacks by eating it with apple slices or celery sticks……yummy!
Makes 18 cookies/ Total time – 35-45 minutes:
110 g unsalted butter
90 g caster sugar
90 g light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
120 g crunchy peanut butter
170 g plain flour
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 or 3 baking trays, lined with parchment paper
1. Whisk butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Beat in vanilla extract and peanut butter.
2. Sift in flour, bicarbonate soda, and salt. Mix well until a smooth dough is formed.
3. Preheat oven to 170C/325F.
3. Arrange 6Â equal spoonful amounts on each tray. Be sure that they are spaced apart to allow for spreading while cooking.
4. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
The cookies should be soft and chewy. Enjoy!
VegDelights 