Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

It's been a while since my last peanut butter post but lately, I've been having a craving for it. So I went and bought a jar of peanut butter, took one of my new beloved cookbooks off the shelf and made some cookies. Watch out guys! Peanut Butter is back! And it joined forces with cocoa powder. A combination which gives these cookies an oh-so heavenly full flavor. They have a crackling sugar coat and a wonderfully dense texture... with crunchy peanut pieces here and there. I give up - peanut butter won me over yet again.

Recipe
(from: The Hummingbird Bakery - Home Sweet Home)

170g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
115g butter, soft
120g crunchy peanut butter
120g caster sugar, plus 40g extra for rolling
90g soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line two or three baking trays with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In another bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and both sugars with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping down the bowl as you go. Add the vanilla extract, mix again. With the speed on slow, add the dry ingredients and mix until combined and the dough is formed.

Put the extra caster sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 4-5cm ball (I made them a bit smaller) and roll each ball in the caster sugar to coat. Place the dough balls onto the prepared baking trays, keeping them about 4cm apart. Flatten a little with your hand.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cookies have a crusty surface and have cracked. They are rather soft when you take them out of the oven, but the get more firm when cooling down. Don't overbake - as ususal, I overbaked the first batch, they were much too hard after cooling down.