Peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon and I was restless. The kids were in tuition classes; I was feeling lazy and wondering what to do. Should I bake something or think of what kind of dinner spread to prepare or should I do some housekeeping? Not in the mood for anything. That's bad. I have to get out of this mode. I have to do something. Help ..............

It suddenly dawned on me that Kinokuniya members will enjoy 20% discount when they order books online during this weekend. I have wanted to buy the book Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson after borrowing it from the library sometime ago. I made some copies of the recipes that I would like to try out. So why not try out one of her recipes today? If I like the recipe, I will buy the book.

I have actually wanted to bake some cookies from her book for my son to bring to his teachers for Teachers' Day Celebration last week. But something cropped up and I did not get to bake them. Today is the day to bake them. It was an easy decision to pick on Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk cookies as I love both peanut butter and chocolate. So let's get started ..............

This recipe was easy to work with. The only slightly tedious chore is to chop up the chocolate into chunks. You can use any chocolate that you like to eat or simply use chocolate chips. I reduced the brown sugar and granulated sugar by 15% and they taste just great. Not too sweet for my not-so-sweet tooth.

The verdict : I like the cookies and I bought the book. Will be trying out more of the recipes soon.

 

Recipe adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

Yields about 27 2.5" sized cookie

 

Ingredients:

1.5 cups bleached all-purpose flour **

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 sticks (85g) unsalted butter, softened

2 tbsp shortening

3/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar **

1/4 cup granulated sugar **

1 large egg

1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use all-natural peanut butter)

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks

 

** I used 171g plain flour, sifted.

** I used 140g instead of 165g as stated in recipe.

** I used 42g instead of 50g as stated in recipe.

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 175ºC.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
2. Cream the butter and shortening in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on moderately low speed for 3 minutes.
3. Add the light brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes.
4. Add the granulated sugar and beat for 1 minute.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 45 seconds after each addition.
6. Blend in the vanilla extract and peanut butter.
7. On low speed, blend in the sifted ingredients in 3 additions, beating just until the flour particles are absorbed.
8. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the dough even-textured.
9. Mix in the bittersweet chocolate chunks.
10. In hot weather or a warm kitchen, refrigerate the dough for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
11. Place rounded 2-tablespoon-size mounds of dough on the prepared pans, spacing the mounds about 3 inches apart. Using the tines of a fork, press down gently on the mounds of dough in a criss-cross pattern, flattening them as you do so.
12. Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven for 12 to 14 minutes, or until set.
13. Let the cookies stand on the pans for 1 minute, then transfer them to cooling racks, using a wide offset metal spatula. Store in an airtight tin.

Note:

I used a 1 tablespoon ice-cream scoop to scoop the cookie dough onto the baking pans. This will yield a 2.5" sized cookie.

If you want a more soft chewy cookie, you can bake at a higher temperature of about 190ºC for about 10 minutes.