Skip to main content

Chocolate and peanut butter gluten free cookie-brownies




Recipe first. I felt it coming when my husband asked me three times if I was going to the supermarket (no, no, and no) and then moved around the kitchen saying that there wasn't anything bad to eat. Our American wwoofer lifted his eyes in surprise, but I knew exactly what it all meant, and replied that the cookie jar is empty on purpose. Yes, that he worked it out too, I am not the type that simply forgets to fill the tins, I simply try to 'regulate' the weekly intake of sugar in this family. But then I felt guilty, with the wwoofer we had an extra mouth to feed, and another thought crossed my mind: I never made peanut butter cookies!

When I told the American he couldn't believe it, they are such a classic US thing, but to be honest I am not really fond of them and I rarely eat peanut butter, which is also the only food that my kids don't like.
But my husband loves it, so I decided to go for peanut butter and chocolate and invent something that would feel more .... decadent? 

I used:
200 g smooth peanut butter (with salt)
100 g 72% dark chocolate, melted
100 g sugar
1 egg
more sugar, regular and icing, to dust.

It is great to see that flour is not needed (gluten free, hurrah!!) you realize that as soon as the egg goes in: everything becomes really thick! I rolled the mixture into walnut size balls and then rolled half of them in icing sugar and the other half in regular sugar before baking them. I wanted to see the difference, and regular sugar works better for this recipe, possibly because there is no butter.
Baking flattens the balls into little domes, keep it at 180°C for about 16 minutes, no more than 18 if you like me like the cookies to be soft inside. Let them cool completely outside the oven before removing from the baking tray. 

I actually had step by step images but they got lost while a keen helper erased more images that needed to be erased from my phone, but the process is very simple and similar to this one, a method that I often use, with few variations, to make most of my chocolate cookies. Of course I didn't tell this to Jacob, the American wwoofer, since he was so impressed that without having ever made peanut butter cookies I came up with these little beauties in less than 40 minutes, and no recipe! 

Of course he loved them, so did my husband, but what about the kids? The came home from school and smelled chocolate. Arantxa was the first, one bite and she looked at me, but her expression wasn't happy. 

What did you put in it? 
You tell me, use your sense of taste! 
Mmmh, some sort of nut... hazelnut? 
No. 
I thought so, I like hazelnuts... oh... no... you didn't!!! How could you!!!!

Max hadn't taste his yet

What!!! What is it, what did she put in it!!
Shhh don't tell him...
Peanut butter!!! She put peanut butter in!!!
You did?
Yes... but the chocolate is stronger, try...
Yes, they are not bad, you can just taste the peanut butter.
No, this is not good, these are like the cookies that Dad likes...

... And she doesn't. So, feeling guilty, I also made some vanilla cupcakes :-).

And this recipe is for the June 2012 edition of Sweet New Zealand, hosted by Shirleen of Sugar and Spice



Well, happy weekend to all, I leave you with one of Arantxa's art iPhone pieces.

 Artwork by Arantxa  Zecchini Dowling©


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Comments

  1. Wat a lovely bake, wont mind having rite now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like peanutbutter a lot, sure going to try this cookies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. what a lovely gluten free bake, I have been trying some gluten free recipes, first time here, I loved your Japanese recipes.., and vegan & vegetarian recipes.., I would love check out some, as my daughter likes anything & everything Japanese!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow Yummy ! I am feeling inspired and going to make it tomorrow !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Devono essere la fine del mondo, da far assaggiare alle mie figlie che amano il burro di arachidi...e il cioccolato!
    A presto!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks A lot! I have been trying some gluten free recipes, first time here, I loved your Japanese recipes.., and vegan & vegetarian recipes.., I would love check out some, as my daughter likes anything & everything Japanese!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As , and something that I love to make for Xmas. I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds. Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry. To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need: 200 g almonds 100 g icing sugar 5 apricot kernels. As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels. The apricot kernel

Kamo Kamo Maori Squash and Italian Borlotti Beans

A crop which gives me great pleasure is borlotti beans, not only for their flavour but also because I love the idea of growing protein food! I eat fresh borlotti, or I dry them and then use them to make nice soups and stews; in particular I like soups with pumpkins, but since this year I am traveling on, I will not enjoy the pumpkins that are growing in my garden. So I tried a different 'pairing'. A friend gave me some kamo kamo, the traditional Maori squash, and told me that the way to eat it is to boil it (skin on) and then cut it and spread it with butter (or olive oil...) salt and pepper, and scoop the flesh out with a fork. I had two kamo kamo so I boiled one (as a was told) and cut the other and sauted with a drop of olive oil and other vegetables from my garden: red onion, and celery. Then I added the beans and some water, salt and pepper, and cooked everything until the beans were soft. I added water little by little, when necessary, and I thought that this would be goo