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Oct 02

Peanut Butter Cookies

 

It’s that time of the week again and its time to bake for the office. Hmmm …. actually no, its only the weekend but I am thinking ahead, so I will bake and get it over and done with. This was helped along by a few factors :

a) I have another guest coming to stay with us mid-week

b) I had picked up a new mini ice cream scoop at the Albert Cuyp market

c) When I did the Dark Chocolate Cherry Cheesecakes I thought I could do peanut butter cookies as well ~ all in the same day ~ so I got carried away at the supermarket and bought like tonnes of peanut butter  and hazelnut spread!

Silly me. I don’t even like peanut butter, and neither does R. Yet here I was with so much of it. For two weeks now I have been looking at the jars, telling  myself I would do something with them. This weekend I got my wish.

This recipe is so simple and fuss free. Its buttery and soft, with a very strong aroma of peanut butter. The centers are hollowed out immediately after baking, while they are still soft, and then filled with hazelnut spread. You can use any kind of spread you desire really ~ hazelnut, chocolate, caramel or even just leave them unfilled. A very versatile cookie which I think would be great with a cup of coffee.

Having a mini ice cream scoop helps immensely with the preparations because the cookie dough is soft, and by using an ice cream scoop you get perfect amounts on your sheet pan everytime. I have been looking everywhere for this tool for the longest time. Ever since we moved to Amsterdam I haven’t been able to find a single shop that sells cooking and kitchen utensils except for that expensive one in the city near the flower market where we bought our dinner service set from ~ and they didn’t sell mini ice cream scoops with the spring mechanism. That is until I went to the Albert Cuyp market, situated in the Latin Quarter of De Pijp.

The Albert Cuyp market is probably the largest and the most famous open markets in Amsterdam. You can get anything there from clothes to shoes, food, fresh produce, cooked food and spices. We went there to pick up a winter coat for me (coz the one I brought with me from Australia probably wouldn’t hold up against a European winter) so I did not think to bring a camera with me. DOH!!

The market has been around since the start of the 1900’s, and as you wander down the street you are flanked on either side by old buildings which invokes a sense of being in a very different era. R and I love old cities and we are simply thrilled to be living here in Europe ~ old city central!! The atmosphere at the market was vibrant and bustling. It was a beautiful day, with temps in the mid 20’s (°C) and the smell of frietjes thick in the air.

After picking up a new winter coat, some new leather gloves and boots we wandered further through the stalls and came across a spice shop. Ooooh, the smells that were coming out from that shop was a dizzying mix of blended rose-hip tea, cinnamon, cummin and incense sticks from India. Row upon row of earthy tonned powders lining the shelves, from the inside of the shop extending to the pavement outside. At the very back of the shop, however, amid a myriad of brick-a-brack was the cashier and behind them was a tall wall-to-wall cabinet filled with the various dry tea leaf blends. This shop was quite a find for me, coz not only did it have all the spices I could ever want, its other wall was lined with baking tins, cookies cutters and ice cream scoops!! Yes, the ones with the spring loaded handle. HUZZAH! I had practically struck gold with this shop, much to the chagrin of R. Either way he patiently combed every aisle with me, listening to me -oooh and -ahh over every thing I touched and fiddled with ~ most likely to ensure I did not buy up  the whole shop. Well I didn’t. But I did end up walking out with a couple little knick-knacks. That will keep me happy for a couple of weeks.

 

 Back home I got started on the peanut butter cookies immediately while R collapsed on the couch and promptly fell asleep. You will need :-

 

Stuff you’ll need. See, its not too complex.
  • 120 g butter, room temp
  • 200 g peanut butter
  • 85 g brown sugar
  • 70 g white sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 215 g flour

 

  1. Cream butter and peanut butter together for about 2 mins. Then add both the sugars. Beat a further 4 mins, and make sure all the sugar is sufficiently dissolved*.
  2. Add vanilla, egg and milk.
  3. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Then add to the peanut butter mixture.
  4. Cover batter with cling film and chill for up to 60 mins to firm up.
  5. Turn on oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
  6. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto sheet pans (I used an ice cream scoop).
  7. Bake for 10 mins until the edges are just turning a little darker brown.
  8. When the cookies come out of the oven, immediately poke a hole in the centre when they are still soft. Set them aside to cool completely.
  9. Fill a piping tube with Nutella or any hazelnut spread of your choice, and fill the holes in the cookies. Alternately make a peanut butter & jelly version by filling the centres with grape jelly.

 

 

*Tip ~ If the sugar is not sufficiently dissolved and incorporated into the batter the crystals will melt later in the oven and make ur cookie “run”, and you will have flat cookies.

 

Using a mini ice cream scoop gives you even sized cookies every single time.

 

 Using an ice cream scoop I managed to obtain 50 cookies per batch. I ended up making two batches just to finish up the jar of peanut butter, and I still have about a third of the jar left. Well I hope the people in the office like peanut butter.

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4 comments

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  1. Tom @ AW

    thank you, there are AWESOME!

    1. bubviv

      Good to know. Sorry they were a bit tossed about …. I had arranged them in a pyramid when I left the house, but delivering them on a bicycle always messes things up.

  2. Liliana

    I ate 4 of these today .. Totally delicious… Best cookies ever!

  3. Claire

    Gonna ask my mom to make them for chrissy!

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