Our resident baker and well-know member, Tracey Ebbs, shares some of her top recipes that you can make to help alleviate the boredom at home and provide you and your family with a tasty treat!
This week:
Peanut Butter Cookies
When I lived in South Africa there was a shop that sold peanut butter cookies that I became obsessed with, I scoffed way more than I should have. I have searched high and low for a recipe to replicate them and this one is pretty close.
The secret is to make sure the dough is thoroughly chilled (I usually leave it in the fridge overnight) before you bake them. This solidifies the oils and prevents them from leaking out during the cooking time, meaning you have a less greasy cookie.
Enjoy these with a cuppa, or, if you’re embracing your inner child, a glass of cold milk.
Ingredients
110g butter at room temperature
100 g granulated sugar
110 g soft light brown sugar
130 g peanut butter – crunchy or smooth, whichever you prefer
1 large egg
160 g plain flour
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Beat the butter until creamy, for around 2 minutes.
- Add the brown sugar and white sugar, beat for 2 more minutes.
- Mix in the peanut butter and the egg.
- In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the dry ingredients—the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder so that they are well combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar-butter mixture to form a stiff dough.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/ Gas 4
- Shape the cookies: Roll the dough into 3 cm balls – about the size of a golf ball. Place the balls of dough about 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. (It helps to dip the fork in sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.) ** The pattern is optional, you can just gently flatten the ball down with your finger if you prefer, but, either way, don’t press them down too thinly – just to a thickness of about 1cm.
- Bake at 180°C/ Gas 4 until light brown, about 9 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool in their baking sheets for a minute. After a minute, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.
Note: For chewier cookies, bake at 150°C/ Gas 2 for 15 minutes.