Peanut Brown Butter Cookies

Sooooo anyone who knows me fairly well will tell you that I LOVE peanut butter. My boyfriend says I’m obsessed… But I think I have a normal and healthy relationship with the spread.

Ok, weeeeeeeeeell maybe a little obsessed. But honestly, how can you not be? It’s just so yummy and versatile AND best of all, it pairs wonderfully with chocolate! For a while I put peanut butter in pretty much every chocolate recipe that I made, but, oddly enough, I’ve had two flatmates who really don’t like peanut butter so if I want my baking to get eaten, sometimes I have to refrain from putting a whole jar into a recipe!

That said, I think I was definitely overdue for some peanut butter and chocolate, I was starting to get withdrawals… So after looking at a few different recipes, I ended up with this version of peanut butter cookies that are FULL of peanut buttery goodness and have completely satisfied my cravings. The browned butter also adds to the wonderful nuttiness to the whole flavour, really intensifying the peanut butter and allowing the sweet chocolate to cut through all that rich goodness.

Browned Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

175g butter

1/4 cup + 2 Tbspn white sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbspn brown sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter (smooth and creamy, like Kraft)

2 eggs

3/4 tspn vanilla essence

3/4 tspn baking soda

1/4 tspn salt

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits

3/4 cup milk chocolate bits (optional, if not using, increase the amount of semi-sweet chocolate)

 

Directions

1. Cut the butter into small cubes and place in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Swirl with a whisk until the butter has complete melted. Once it has melted, whisk it continuously for around 3-5 minutes until the butter turns a darker, more brown colour and starts to smell caramelised.
2. Remove the butter from the heat and pour it into the mixing bowl (ideally the bowl of a stand mixer) that you’ll use to cream the butter and the sugar. Let the butter cool for around 10-15 minutes, or until it’s not boiling hot anymore.
3. Once the butter has cooled, cream the butter with the white and brown sugars until smooth. Add in the eggs, peanut butter and vanilla and again, mix until smooth and well-incorporated.
4. Slowly add in the baking soda, salt and flour and mix until combined.
5. Lastly, add in the chocolate bits and mix through with a wooden spoon. Let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour. About halfway through this time, preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line two cookie trays.
6. Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie trays (I used my new cookie scoop which gives around 1 Tbspn of dough, enough for small mounds of cookie), making sure that the cookies have enough room to expand a little.
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly golden. Remove the cookies from the oven and let set for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
8. Smell and enjoy the peanut butter!!