crunchy peanut cookies

hello!!! long time no hear!!! how be you? i am feeling much better, thank you.  was i unwell? hell yeah!! i was miserable for the past few days. miserable with a capital 'M'. why? because, my beloved oven, decided to have a cardiac arrest right in the middle of my baking a batch of melting moments. tripped the whole house, and to top it all off...i was just about to scoop these onto the baking sheet. there i was thinking that i could bake some of these, when it all happened. the thing is, in the recipe, it says that the dough for this particular cookie, needs to be refrigerated. while i was preparing, i was saying to myself, 'yeah right. like i'm going to go through the trouble of refrigerating these. i am so NOT going to do that and just get right on with baking them.' guess, someone else had other plans for me. i ended up refrigerating these babies. cheh!

anyways, the oven's all better now and this morning i took out the dough and started to bake these. what do i think about it? well, for one, i didn't like the texture of the dough while i was scooping them. they were crumbly. me no likey. next time i'll try to do it MY way, no fridge. *yeay!!*

as for the taste, well, i immediately know as soon as i popped one of these into my mouth that they will be MrG's favorite. he loves anything with peanuts and i know what will happen to these as soon as he gets home. haha!

okay, if you noticed, the name of these cookies is CRUNCHY peanut cookies. but mine wasn't. it is more semi-crunchy, if there's such a thing. i think i might have something to do with it. i might need too leave in the oven for a few more minutes. tulah...nak sangat bake, tak sesabor...plus i had a date with someone today and i wanted to bring her these, and you know, time was also a factor...okay, lame excuse. time WAS NOT the factor, i was just impatient. haha!! so, next time, add more minutes.

taste wise, these are delish. they are not too sweet and i like the nutty taste. d-uh...nama pun PEANUT cookies, hoccaayyyy...

alright homies, what are we waiting for? ready for recipe? let's go!!

you will need:

125g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing*

150g chunky peanut butter

225g granulated sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

150g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
75g unsalted natural peanuts, chopped**

the how to:
1)  place the butter and peanut butter in a large bowl and beat together. gradually add the sugar and beat well.

2)  in goes the egg, a little at a time, until it is combined.

3)  sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.

4)  add in the peanuts and bring all of the ingredients together to form a soft dough.

5)  wrap dough in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.***

6)  preheat the oven to 190°C. ****

7)  lightly grease two large baking sheets. (see '*') :-p

8)  form the dough into balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced well apart. flatten them slightly with your hand. (i used a 3cm ice cream scoop, sonang kojo mak temah, senaaaahhh)

9)  bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

10) leave to cool for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*phew* banyak giler instructions. haha!

*i use silicone sheets to like my baking tray, so i didn't need the extra for greasing.

**because i'm all about making things easy for me when i bake, i used store bought pre-murdered (chopped) peanuts. they work just fine for me.

***AAAAAARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :-p

****i had to play around with the baking temperature and time combo, because at 190°C, my cookies were burnt at the 8th minute. so...

hoccay! this is one heck of a loooong entry. i hope you guys would give this a try. the hard work is totally worth. no, wait. hard work? part mananya?? alahhh...you get what i mean. yes?

okay, luck luck!!!

recipe source: Home Baking, published by LOVE FOOD of Parragon Books Ltd.