Peanut Butter Cookies and Instagram

Cookies may not know that I was prompted to start this because of Instagram. I wish I was kidding! I’m one of those people who cannot resist sneaky snaps of her teacup, or of freshly baked biccies.

I’m an Instagram tragic. (proof here: http://instagram.com/gabbyeq)

The boy and I started house-sitting in April and I had recently been made redundant – what is a girl to do in her copious amounts of spare time? Instagram of course! Once people cottoned onto the fact that I was mostly cooking and taking pictures of said cooking, it became a bit of a joke that I spent all of my time this way.

#bakingwithgab was born.

I started the hashtag as a joke, but as I watched my cooking conquests amass I wondered what was holding me back.

I prefer Gabby as a nickname, but Gab worked much better in the hashtag.

My second ever #bakingwithgab picture was Peanut Butter Choc Chip cookies, which is where we find ourselves today – these cookies are not for the faint of heart. They’re decadent, doughy little chunks of heaven. You have been warned.

I found the recipe on Ambitious Kitchen and tweaked a few little things. The Ambitious Kitchen version is gluten free, but I added a smidgen of flour to break up the peanut butter.

I’m going to make this clear now – I actually hate using the word cookie. With proud Australian parents, I was always corrected if I called something a cookie. “’Cookie?!’ We eat BISCUITS in Australia” (thanks Dad). But these little babies ooze Americana to me, so I’m going to break the family rules. Don’t tell Dad.

Peanut Butter Choc-chunk Cookies

3/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup self-raising flour
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced

Mix together the flour oats and baking soda.

In a large bowl mix together the peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. It should be slightly runny and it probably doesn’t look to appetizing at the moment – persevere!

Mix in the dry ingredients then fold in choc-chunks. If you can’t be bothered chopping chocolate, use choc-chips. I prefer chocolate chunks to choc-chips, they make the final cookie look more rustic AND you get bigger chocolate pieces. Win-win.

You can also cut back on the amount of chocolate you use if you’re feeling virtuous.

Roll cookies into balls and place onto baking paper about 2cm apart. Prepare yourself for sticky hands! Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, flatten the balls, but only slightly.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. They won’t look firm, but they’re done. Remove them from the oven and leave them to sit for five minute before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Depending on how big your cookies are, you may have dough left over. Repeat previous steps, or just eat the remainder.

Makes 10 big cookies.

Try tailoring the recipe to your own desires – substitute some choc chips for M&Ms or cut back on the sugar. Make them the ‘buns’ of an icecream-cookie sandwich. Be adventurous! Let me know how it goes.