CHOCOLATE PEANUTBUTTER COOKIES
Chocolate peanut butter cookie recipes like this come along once in a lifetime. So simple, so easy and so good; in an unrefined, no animal producty kinda way - it's not that "good", there is much sugar! It's so quick you can memorise the recipe from the first bake. Make this once and you can have it on standby for a world of "chocolate cookie emergency" situations. It also ticks the boxes for a lot of you mama's dealing with allergies. Gluten-free, dairy-free, flour-free, refined sugar free, and if you use an egg replacer instead of my free range egg, you have yourself a vegan, egg-free cookie too!
Toddler approved, Eddy likes these so much he will use his teeth - he mostly avoids crunchy foods!
You can fiddle with the sugars, peanut butters and baking times to alter the consistency too. If you prefer a crunchy cookie, use crunchy peanut butter with raw or demarara sugar and bake for the full 15. If you prefer a smoother consistency and a chewier centre, switch to brown sugar and smooth peanut butter and whip em out at 10min. When you make this recipe with crunchy peanut butter, it turns out more like a peanut brownie FYI.
I love that you don't need a mixer for this easy vegan cookie recipe. A metal fork or spoon from the cutlery draw is actually best as it's a fairly dry mixture. Nothing can fling around on the walls if you do it by hand. And because it's a hand-mix jobby, you can totally let small hands take a turn at smooshing it all together. Rolling them into balls is a totally unnecessary step, it's just for the kids. When you are cooking in a rush/by yourself just scoop it, like I did on Instagram today, by the tablespoon straight onto the tray. If you love cleaning and messy hands, then go ahead and get the kids stuck in on this one. They honestly can't f*ck it up.
You will use:
1 cup of peanut butter (see notes above and below for which suits you)
1 cup of sugar (see notes above for which suits you)
1 free range egg
2 tbsp of cocoa (I use Dutch Organic from Bin Inn but any will do!)
1 tsp natural vanilla essence
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda (You can actually omit one raising agent if you like!)
1 generous pinch of salt (I use Himalayan but any will do!)
Mix it all together. Bake at 180 for either 10 or 15 minutes depending on desired crunch / chew level.
I love peering into the oven when these are done ... and stealing a quick moutfhful (see above right!)
1 x chopped frozen banana (per serve)
1/4 cup of coconut cream (per serve)
1/4 cup of rice milk (per serve)
1 tsp of cocoa
1/4 tsp of vanilla essence
pinch of cinnamon
Chuck in the ninja and blitz until smooth. Slather between cookies like a goey frozen oreo, layer in a glass like a deconstructed tiramisu or just scoop out of the ninja with cookies. I wont tell on you ;)
Peanut Butter Tips for Baking
If you don't usually bake with peanut butter (I do, a lot) a word about brands. Save your delicious Pic's for toast, it doesn't work for these cookies. Likewise Kraft and Select American Style - delicious by the spoonful out of the jar but terrible for baking because of the added oils and sugars. A small amount of salt is no bad thing, especially for dairy-free baking when you want to recreate a "buttery" sensation; you don't need to omit salted peanut butters. Sanitarium, Pam's and Select offer the best consistency and are my go-to's for most cooking. Always go for the "no added sugar" jars so you can control the sugar going into your sweets. Salted is fine imho but omit if you want to limit that too.
Super fast, super easy and no need to shop - if you don't have raw or brown sugar in your cupboard you can totally use caster or white. I never bake with white personally, I don't like the lack of flavour. I adore the caramelly goodness of brown and raw or demerara but that's me and my general desire for all things salted caramel. Any sugar, any cocoa will do. Use vanilla paste or artificial vanilla if that's what is in your pantry. Skip it if you have none. If you want to modify the recipe but aren't sure how - message me or comment here! And if you like it, please share it with people you love on social! XX
