Every week, baking expert Alice Medrich is going rogue on Food52 -- with shortcuts, hacks, and game-changing recipes.
Today: It's hard to say no to peanut butter and toffee.
Kids of all ages will go nuts for super-peanutty peanut butter cookies encrusted with crunchy sweet coconut toffee- or plain toffee-coated peanuts and (if you like) sprinkled with tiny pinches of crushed flaky sea salt. Tuck them into a lunch box, bring them to the office, or take them as a hostess gift. If your audience is adventuresome, trade the toffee peanuts for those Thai curry cashews in the bulk bin aisle of better supermarkets, or add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Thai curry paste or hot sauce to the dough. Really!
This dough is quick to mix by hand, no mixer necessary. Coating the dough with toffee peanuts is a tiny bit fussy, but sooo worth it. Get a kid (any age!) to help with this. Just call it back-to-school bonding time with a big payoff for all concerned.
Adapted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Cookies (Artisan Books, 2010)
Makes approximately 12 to 15 cookies
8 tablespoons (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and warm
1/2 cup (100 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 cup (255 grams) natural (the kind that is unsweetened and requires stirring) chunky peanut butter, well-stirred to blend in the oil before measuring
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups (170 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (140 grams) purchased coconut toffee peanuts or toffee peanuts, coarsely chopped
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)
See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.
Get excited about Alice's forthcoming book Flavor Flours: nearly 125 recipes -- from Double Oatmeal Cookies to Buckwheat Gingerbread -- made with wheat flour alternatives like rice flour, oat flour, corn flour, sorghum flour, and teff (not only because they're gluten-free, but for an extra dimension of flavor, too).
Photos by Alpha Smoot
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