Ultimate Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Saturdays at the ‘school’ I work at are always hectic, teachers are speeding about from class to class with breaks spent trying to clear huge stacks of marking piles. The other day I was desperate for a snack and was stretched for time and quickly snatched up some peanut butter Oreos for an energy booster without realizing it.

I hate(d) peanut butter. The smell was ghastly and reminded me of brown puke. Nutella, peanut butter and Speculoos are delicious and popular in the United States, but my childhood breakfasts consisted of half boiled eggs seasoned with soya sauce and pepper, porridge and my absolute favourite – buttered toast and Chin Mee Chin kaya. (hands down the best in Singapore!)

So perhaps my time was due as I crunched into the sugary, chemically laden cookie, SOMETHING MAGICAL HAPPENED. The beauty of peanut butter and chocolate finally dawned on me and I literally ( YES, LITERALLY) stopped in my tracks to stare at the other single cookie in my hand, albeit in wide eyed amazement. Also much to the amusement of other teachers who were dashing to their classes.

Cookie recipes aren’t usually featured here because I love baking cakes, but this cookie is TO DIE FOR. Tall and puffy with a chewy interior, studded generously with chocolate chips.  I took a leaf from Alton Brown’s ‘The Chewy’and used bread flour which gives the cookie such a chewy texture! To get their puffy, pillow texture, baking powder is used in lieu of baking soda. A handy tip : baking Powder PUFFS and baking Soda SPREADS. The spices – cinnamon, allspice and ginger are optional, but they give the cookie a different flavor dimension.

Because I like ‘em chewy but not gooey, I baked them for about 10-12 minutes at 175C. The texture is sublime, almost like a peanut butter brown sugar truffle. Best enjoyed with cold milk and a Jenny Colgan novel!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (Makes about 16 43g cookies)

1 large egg
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural or homemade, too runny)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teasp ginger

¼ teasp allspice
¾ cup chocolate chips 

DIRECTIONS:

1.    To the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl with electric mixer), combine egg, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamed, about 5 minutes. Mixture doesn't get as fluffy as you may be used to when typically creaming ingredients for cookies. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

2.    Add the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, spices and optional salt, and beat on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute.

3.   Roll out the dough into 43g balls equally.

4.   Place dough balls on a large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or for up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake flat and thin.

5.     Preheat oven to 175C. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart.

6.    Bake for about 10 – 12 minutes, or until tops are just set. It's okay if cookies are glossy, pale, and slightly underdone in the center because they firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before serving. 

Baker’s Notes

1.    Supermarket brand peanut butter (Skippy!) is recommended because the natural kinds might be too watery for these cookies.

2.    I highly recommend using bread flour for the best ‘chew’ factor. All purpose flour in my previous batches resulted into a flatter batch.

3.   Cornstarch or corn flour gives the cookie an additional melt in the mouth texture.

4.   You can mix up the spice ratio, but I love this combination because the chewy cookie is like a PB – Speculoos hybrid! WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

All Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Food in Singapore is not cheap. When the café scene started hopping in Singapore a few years back, my friends and I were a bright eyed bunch in University, and would eagerly scour from café to café (The Plain, D’ Good Café) for a zen place to study and a good cuppa.

The baked goods always left much to be desired though, which was fine by me because it gave me excuses to whip up my own in the kitchen. My allowances dipped because of the siren’s call from all the cookies in the Marks & Spencer stores. In England they’re waaaay cheaper, about 2 pounds for a pack of those buttery, crumbly chocolate chip cookies. But here in Singapore, they’re a hefty $8 a pop! DAMN YOU GST @_@

Receiving a tub of homemade butter cookies from a lovely parent finally made me SEE THE LIGHT. Crumbly, buttery shortbreads are POSSIBLE! IN THE HOME KITCHEN! GOD BLESS US ALL! That’s alot of exclamation marks, but the revelation truly made my heart sing.

These cookies aren’t very sweet and have a hint of salt from the custard powder. I try to make them smaller and have seen my students pop 5 cookies in one sitting – that’s how dangerously snacktastic they are! The trick to crumbly, but not fall apart cookies is a dash of corn flour and custard powder. Do try to locate these ingredients because I guarantee people will be asking for these over and over again!

All Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Recipe Slightly Adapted from Christine

Makes 25 pieces

§  150 gm plain flour / all-purpose flour

§  30 gm corn flour / corn starch

§  20 gm custard powder

§  160 gm unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

§  50 gm icing sugar

§  1/2 tsp vanilla extract

§  1 tsp baking powder

§  ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions

1.    Combine the plain flour, corn flour, custard powder and baking powder and sift through a sieve. Set aside.

2.    In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy and pale. Mix in the vanilla extract.

3.   Sift in the flour mixture. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Stir in chocolate chips. Lightly knead into a dough. Wrap with a plastic film and roll into a tube in 3½cm thickness. Wrap it up and refrigerate for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until it’s workable.

4.   Preheat oven to 180C / 365F. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Remove the dough from refrigerator. Using your hands, scoop and measure about 20g of dough and roll into a ball. Place onto the baking sheet and flatten gently with the palm of your hand, until you get a small round disc. Bake in preheated oven, for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.

Baker’s Notes

1.     Because the ingredients are simple and few, try to use the best quality butter, vanilla and chocolate, because your guests will be able to taste the difference.

2.    Christine’s recipe is originally the slice and bake method, but my OCPD tendencies drive me to weighing them out individually, play it by the ear!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Chunkies

This is for saying goodbye. 

These batch of cookies are for my Primary 6 students, a parting gift of sorts, for our last lesson together. I'm not a fan of peanut butter (actually LOATHE the stuff), but I know my kids love them. Oats, chocolate and peanut butter make for a fantastic, kid friendly, protein rich snack for them. Crispy on the outside, chewy inside, perfect to wash down with a glass of milk! 

The older my students get, the snarkier their comments can get. But ultimately, this is my way of thanking them for being so hardworking, thoughtful and driven. For being my inspiration and motivation for coming to work to teach, for teaching me how to listen, for showing me what it's like to look through the world through another pair of eyes. 

At times, the best part of the job is learning from them as much as they do from me. 

Chunky PB & Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted from Baking, from my home to yours)

Wrapped airtight or piled into a cookie jar, the cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they’ll be good for 2 months. Makes 20 big cookies 

·        1.5 cups old-fashioned oats

·        1/2 cup all-purpose flour

·        1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·        1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

·        Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

·        ¼ teaspoon salt

·        4 ounces (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

·        ½ cup (125g) peanut butter (not natural)

·        1/2 cup white sugar

·        1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

·        1 large eggs

·        1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·        130g chopped bittersweet chocolate

1.) Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2.) Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

3.) Using a hand mixer, in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips.

4.) If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about ½ inch thick.

5.) Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula—they’ll firm as they cool.

6.) Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Baker's Notes

1.) Do use supermarket peanut butter, the natural stuff isn't sweet enough!

2.) I like to chill my dough for a minimum of 6 hours, this allows for a richer taste