Peanut Butter Cookies

It got more chilly outside and a bit more rainy lately. Sitting at home when outside it's raining cats and dogs calls for a blanket, cosy cookie and a hot cup of tea. But this weekend I was visiting my friends and I wanted to give them a little homemade gift. Going through all my recipe ideas for cosy cookies, fit for this weather and good for a little gift Peanut Butter Cookies won as a perfect fit.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup agave syrup

1/4 cup almond milk

3/4 tsp table salt

1.5 tbsp kosher salt

1 cup homemade peanut butter (see below)

Peanut butter:

250 g peanuts

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp peanut oil (or extra virgin olive oil)

Let's start from the main ingredient: peanut butter. 

Preheat oven to 190 C and roast peanuts for 15 minutes on a baking paper sheet. Stir peanuts once in a while to make sure all of them roast equally and be careful not to burn them. Remove tray from the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes. Then transfer roasted peanuts to a blender, add honey, salt and oil and blend until smooth. You may need to stop from time to time to scrape down the peanut butter.

Now... cookie time! 

Add flour, baking-powder, vanilla extract, honey, agave syrup, almond milk, table salt and of course peanut butter to a bowl. If your peanut butter was quite solid you can add additional 1.5 tbsp of olive oil. Knead the dough and incubate it in a fridge for 20 minutes. In the meantime preheat the oven to 190 C. After incubation form 1.5 cm-wide balls from the dough and press them slightly on the baking paper sheet. Decorate top of the cookie by pressing fork on top and sprinkle each cookie with kosher salt. Bake for 12 minutes and then cool for 5 minutes. 

Serving: 36 cookies.

Muse- Unintended

Cookies will taste perfectly served with hot cup of afternoon tea, black coffee or breakfast glass of milk. Perfect for all the occasions. The choice is yours.

Lemon curd & Poppy seeds Cookies

Oh, how I love to cook! This weekend I went on a cooking spree. I just couldn't leave the kitchen, I didn't want to leave it where there was so much to be done. So from the morning till evening I've been chopping, mixing, boiling, baking with small breaks for trips to the shop for extra ingredients. If I was to choose one recipe to present from this weekend the choice would be difficult, but I think this one would win... cookies with homemade lemon curd and poppy seeds. 

Lemon curd & Poppy seeds Cookies
Cookie:

125 g unsalted butter

150 g poppy seeds

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose four

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg 

3 tbsp milk
150g poppy seeds

Lemon curd:
125 g unsalted butter
1 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 eggs

Let's start from making the lemon curd. Melt butter on very low fire, add sugar and mix until completely dissolved. Zest lemon and squeeze lemon juice. Add them together with eggs to the mixture, keep on low fire while continuously mixing. Mix until lemon curd reaches its jelly-like consistency and transfer it to a jar. This amount of lemon curd will be sufficient for cookies and much much more, so prepare sterilized jar to store it. It will also taste fantastic with morning toasts or pancakes. 

As for cookies mix butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, egg and only 1 tbsp of milk together. Knead the dough well and prepare poppy seeds by soaking them for 5 minutes in 2 tbsp of hot milk. Divide dough into two and roll each piece between two baking paper sheets into A4-size rectangles. Spread lemon curd on the rolled sheet, sprinkle them with poppy seeds and roll the dough from the longer end. Keep the rolled dough for 1 hour in the fridge and in the meantime preheat the oven to 190 C. Take the rolled dough out of the fridge, cut it into 1.5 cm slices and bake until golden. In the meantime, to match the mood :)

Fool's Garden- Lemon Tree