Thursday 28 April 2011

Peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies and when diets go bad


Everything in moderation.  Including moderation. ~ Unknown

Maybe it's something to do with eating really healthily for the last little bit to fit into my wedding dress or maybe it's to do with the self restraint required for not eating cookies for the whole of Lent but in the last week I've been back up in Auckland, I've basically eaten my weight in food.  I'm eating like it's going out of fashion.

A mere 3 weeks before my wedding and I've gone from a Wedding Diet to a See Food And Eat It Diet.

I kid you not, in the last week we've eaten at Sri Mahkota, Sun World, Canton Cafe, and Muse and at each and every meal I've eaten until it hurt to move: slow braised pork belly, steamed garlic prawns, beef brisket noodle soup, crispy fried chicken, soy honey lamb chops, shallots chicken, four seasons beans.  While the rest of the table are already clutching their bellies in fullness, I'd still be shoveling food in my mouth.  Need a dish finished off? No worries, pass it to Nessie.

Not to mention the pies-ing I've been doing at home: I've single-handedly demolished a whole 1.5 kilograms of greek yoghurt with a whole bottle of kithul treacle from Sri Lanka, made and eaten a whole stack of cinnamon oat pancakes smothered in golden syrup and then a massive batch of butter chicken and hoovered up almost half a batch of these Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They're gluten free, so simple to make you could make them with one hand tied behind your back and SO addictive you too will have trouble not eating all the dough even before it hits the oven.

Who ate all the cookies in the cookie jar? Nessie ate all the cookies in the cookie jar.

Oh self restraint, why have you abandoned me???





The wedding diet really didn't stand a chance against these cookies.  Someone once said just give Nessie a jar of peanut butter and she'll be happy.  They were totally right - I am nuts about peanut butter.  Sweet and salty and peanutty. I could eat it by the spoonful.

The lack of self control was also not helped by the fact that these cookies are so darn simple to make: 5 ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, an egg and choc chips, just mix in a bowl, bake and BOOM you have cookies.  That's it.  Blink and you've missed me making them.  

I've been making these cookies for ages, it was love at first sight when I saw them wee treats by tammy who in turn got the recipe from the legendary Bakerella.  They've become my go-to cookie recipe when I need to whip baking up in a hurry.  Or just when I'm craving cookies.  These puppies are dangerously delicious and so addictive I'm making my second batch this week.

Wedding diet will have to start next week.




Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes around 30 mini cookies and around 18 - 20 normal sized cookies

recipe tweaked from Bakerella

250g (~1 cup) peanut butter (you can use smooth or crunchy but I prefer crunchy for the peanutty bits)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate drops/chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 160oC.  Line two baking trays.  In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, vanilla, sugar and egg.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

2.  Roll giant gobstopper sized balls of dough and flatten ever so slightly.  Bake for 16 -18 minutes until lightly golden.  Refrigerate the rest of the dough while you are baking each tray. 

3. Cool on the tray for 2 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.  You will be lucky if there are any left by day 1.

13 comments:

  1. I just died. From all the DIABEETUS I'M GONNA GET after baking these.

    (Also see this: http://taf.tumblr.com/post/4922308816 choc and macadamia nuts though, not peanut butter)

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  2. I wouldn't be able to resist those cookies either. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your cookies up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweets-for-saturday-15.html

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  3. I tried these! Wow they are awesome. I've linked to this recipe in my post =D

    http://irishwishesarespecial.blogspot.com/2011/05/happiness-is.html

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  4. Your 2nd pic is the one i could die for! wow!

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  5. These are exactly the thing to make on a blustery, rainy night in NZ! And as for the "wedding diet" - it gets harder and harder the closer you get to The Day, especially because of (this is my proven theory!) all the stress and thinking you are doing right before it all happens. Burns more calories too, I think. :) Now I'm off to make the house smell of peanutty goodness, thanks!

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  6. teresa: hehe I clearly have a bad case of DIETbetes :P That macadamia cookie of yours is amazing. Actually the biggest cookie I've ever seen. Looks like we know who stole the cookie from the cookie jar.... :P

    Sinead: I was amazed at the lack of flour too! You honestly can't tell it's gluten free at all. The cookie texture is just a cookie-ey as ever huh! Thanks so much for the blog shout out and STOKED that you like them! :)

    Lisa: What a cool concept! Think I was a bit to slow though doh! Thanks heaps for stopping by :)

    Ananda: Awww thanks so much lovely!!! It's my all time fav tea set - cost me NZD$5 would you believe!! :)

    choey: You are so right...the closer I get the more piggy I become! Must be the stress and nothing to do with my inner fat kid!:P Cookies as wedding-brain food = I like it! :)

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  7. It's Sunday night. Guess who's making these for dinner?

    To make it worse we had a massive yum char brunch.)

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  8. these are awesome! Thanks to my ma for giving me the link to your blog - it's great! I'm going to make these for my daughter's afternoon tea (Clover NESSIE) and she will be stoked :-) Oh, and I love bakerella blog too... sooo good! Enjoy your wedding and don't worry about the wedding diet!

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  9. Oh my goodness.... Somehow I don't think my once a week dancing session is going to be able to keep up with these beauties!

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  10. teresa: Cookies are a totally legit dinner item!! He he. Oh man I miss yum cha - very jealous!!

    nic-nac: Thanks heaps for your comment! I make these cookies FAR too often they are just so hard to resist. I had a pie today. Just couldn't hold out! It was ah-mazing :)

    Sanity or Bust: I keep telling myself that eating one of these cookies is just like having peanut butter on toast. Only with chocolate chips. So pretty much like having a sandwich :P

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  11. "everything in moderation..." - Julia Child (FYI). I agree.

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  12. One wonders if you NEED the peanut butter... My sister's developed problems with gluten (not an allergy per se, but an "intolerance", I guess) and I wanted to make these for her, but I don't think she likes peanut butter. I wonder if it's an ingredient in the peanut butter that allows for the cookies to be make without the "traditional" flour and baking soda and salt mixture... Hmmm.... They LOOK gorgeous, and I totally want to make them just as-is for my house... I think I'm going to, but when it's not quite so hot... :( The idea of turning on my oven scares me.

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