Southern Chocolate Peanut Cookies

Southern Chocolate Peanut Cookies
Source: Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies (Random House, 1995 ed.), pg. 142.

These cookies taste like a peanut-butter cookie with the addition of chocolate and peanuts. They have a sandy texture with the perfect combination of salted nuts and chocolate (although I thought the nuts were a little on the heavy side, friends who tried them didn't agree with me).

Maida Heatter says you can use honey-roasted or dry-roasted nuts. They do need to be salted nuts.

I used chocolate chips but you can use any type of chocolate as long as it is broken up.

Makes 30-35 cookies

6 oz. milk chocolate (broken up bars, or chocolate morsels)
1/4 cup sifted unbleached flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 large egg
8 oz. (1 1/2 cups) salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat the butter until softened.
Add the peanut butter and vanilla and beat to mix.

Beat in the sugar.

Beat in the egg.

Add the flour/cocoa mixture.

Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the chocolate.

Stir in the peanuts.

Form the dough into balls, using a teaspoon-sized scoop for small cookies or a tablespoon-sized scoop for larger cookies). Place them about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, reversing the trays halfway through baking (if baking two sheets at a time). If you are baking one sheet at a time, use the upper rack. The cookies will feel soft, but they will firm up as they cool. Let them stand for a minute or two, before transferring to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

Comments

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