crunchy peanut butter cookies

I love to eat peanut butter, especially the type that comes with chunky pieces of chopped peanuts. However, Da is not fond of peanut butter. As such, we try not to buy peanut butter because I am the only one who ends up eating the peanut butter and it takes me quite a long time to finish a small bottle.

I have since found a way to "have my cake and eat it"! So as not to miss out on my chunky peanut butter, some of the peanut butter gets spread onto bread or crackers. The rest of the peanut butter is used to make peanut butter cookies.

If you are keen on making peanut butter cookies, I would recommend that you use icing sugar instead of castor sugar or brown sugar. The inclusion of icing sugar gives the cookie a very fine texture and the cookie tends to melt in your mouth. Ooh-la-la! If, however, you would prefer that the cookie be more firm, then by all means, use castor sugar or brown sugar instead of icing sugar. At the end of the day, it is all about personal preference.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt1 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup ground peanut
2 cups chunky peanut butter
1 cup chopped peanuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Sift the plain flour and bicarbonate of soda. Add the salt and mix well.

3. Cream the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence till light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs, 1 at a time and beat well.

5. Add the ground cinnamon, ground peanut, peanut butter and chopped peanuts and mix well.

6. Fold in the flour and salt mixture.

7. Drop by teaspoonful onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Cool the cookies thoroughly before storing in an air-tight container.

Tips

If you prefer that the cookies have a firmer texture:-

(a) instead of 2 1/4 cups of plain flour, use 2 cups of plain flour and 1/4 cup of corn flour; and

(b) instead of 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar, use 1/2 cup of castor sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar.