There are few perfect pairs in this world: tights and smock dresses, gin and tonic, Kate Nash and Ryan Jarman, and of course chocolate and peanut butter.
Ah, peanut butter. I don’t really get people who don’t like it. There’s a soul connection missing between a PB hater and me. While within the PB kinship, I can give a small nod to an eight-year-old as a way of saying, “Hey dude, I get you. What is that? Chunky? Roasted? Niiice.”
These cookies are stupidly easy to make, but before you start baking away I have a few notes about ingredients. If you’re using natural peanut butter (which you should because those name-brand grocery shelf peanut butters contain things like corn syrup and hydrogenated oils) be sure to mix the contents of the jar very well before measuring, as natural butters tend to separate.
I beg you, please use real, natural maple syrup if you can. Those name-brand syrups, though charming with their bottles shaped like ladies, are basically just corn syrup with a bit of maple flavoring. Finally, if you’d like to up the nutrition, feel free to substitute the all purpose flour with whole-wheat pastry flour for healthier cookie.
I prefer a smaller cookie to the giant, human head sized café cookies. But if you prefer a more Rubenesque confection, up the baking time by two to three minutes.
Ingredients
Makes about 36 cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ to ¾ cup chocolate chips
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 4.
Sift together dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. Whisk vigorously until the mixture begins to emulsify.
Pour in half the dry mixture and stir to incorporate. Pour in the remaining dry half and mix. Be careful not to over-mix! You want to be a tough cookie, not bake tough cookies.
Drop one tablespoon of batter per cookie onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten batter slightly with the bottom of a cup or with your fingers. These cookies don’t spread much so don’t be afraid to crowd the pan.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The edges should be a nice golden brown.
Let the cookies sit on the sheets for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Once the cookies have cooled sufficiently, and you’ve stolen a couple to, you know, make sure they’re not poisonous or anything, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler.
Dip cookies one by one in the melted chocolate to cover half the cookie. I found it easier to frost the cookies using a palette knife, but you do what’s easiest for you.
Return the dipped cookies to the cooling rack and let the chocolate set for an hour. Then devour!
Image © Yvonne Penzakov