Peanut chocolate chip cookies for Fathers Day!
Fathers day is coming up this weekend, and I wanted to make a fun cookie recipe inspired by my father in law, Greg. My dog Latke and Greg have a shared love of peanuts, and you can bet that if Latke is around when the peanut container is opened, he is THERE in a flash, so I of course had to make a peanut cookie of some sort.
My favourite type of cookie is a gooey when warm, chewy when cool, chocolate chip cookie, so I used my brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe as a base. I added in caramelised peanuts, for some extra depth of flavour, and I replaced some of the chopped chocolate with a peanut gianduja. Gianduja normally refers to chocolate and hazelnuts mixed together, to create a paste like nutella, or a chocolate bonbon. Here I used a little bit of caramelised white chocolate with peanut butter, to give the peanut butter enough stability that it won't completely melt in to the cookie dough.
The result is a delicious crunchy, creamy, nutty cookie - the perfect fathers day treat!
GREG'S PEANUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Makes 9 cookies
For the peanuts:
20g sugar
15g water
50g roasted peanuts
For the peanut gianduja:
25g caramelised white chocolate
75g smooth peanut butter
For the cookies:
150g butter (preferably salted)
80g brown sugar
70g sugar
1 egg (I use size 7)
160g flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
100g chopped milk chocolate
Make the caramelised peanuts by placing the sugar and water together in a small pot. Bring to the boil, then add in the peanuts. Turn the heat down to low and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar begins to caramelise. Continue to cook, tossing the peanuts in the caramel until they're evenly coated. Pour onto a sheet of baking paper and set aside to cool.
To make the peanut gianduja put the peanut butter and caramelised white chocolate in a bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water and stir until the chocolate is melted. Alternatively you can melt the chocolate and peanut butter together in ten second bursts in the microwave. Pour the gianduja mix onto a piece of baking paper and spread out so its about 2mm thin. Freeze while you make the cookie dough.
Begin the cookie dough by making the brown butter. Place the butter in a pot and cook over a medium heat, whisking constantly until the butter is a deep, nutty brown. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl (preferably metal, plastic may melt as the butter is very hot at this stage). The butter should weigh 120g now due to water evaporation in the browning process.
Allow the butter to cool for about 5 minutes before whisking in both sugars. Whisk in the egg until well combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add in the milk chocolate, the caramelised peanuts and finally take the peanut gianduja from the freezer and rip it into pieces directly into the dough. Mix the dough until all the additions are well combined.
Weigh the dough into 80g balls. Chill the dough balls for at least 2 hours, or freeze for at least 30 minutes before baking. The dough balls will last one week in the fridge or one month in the freezer.
When ready to bake preheat the oven to 180c. Place the dough balls on a tray, allowing room for the cookies to spread. Sprinkle the cookies with flaky salt and bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on the edges. I prefer 12 minutes for chilled cookies and 14-15 minutes for frozen cookies.
Use a round cutter to scoot the cookies when they come out of the oven, so they remain nice and round. Allow the cookies to cool slightly before enjoying! The cookies will last 3 days from baking in an airtight container at room temperature (I always prefer the chewier texture of a day old cookie)