THE 21ST CENTURY HOUSEWIFE established 2002

Ever had a peanut butter and honey sandwich? Remember how good they taste? Well, even they don’t taste as good as these cookies! This is the second of the Slice and Bake recipes I was working on a couple of weeks ago, and is based on a recipe my Mom shared with me when I was a little girl.

These cookies are lovely and moist, almost cakey, with a soft peanut buttery goodness that is dangerously addictive. I used smooth peanut butter and added chopped peanuts, but if you didn’t have any peanuts to hand you could use crunchy peanut butter instead. Although I might still add peanuts, but that is because I love them. They remind me of my wonderful late Grandpa, who always had a dish of salted peanuts on the side in the living room. I was given the dish after he died, and I only ever put peanuts in it. It just doesn’t look right if I use it for anything else, and I love how it brings back my happy memories of him.

But back to the cookies. Of the three recipes I worked on, I think these may have been my favourite. I loved my Slice and Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies , but there was something about these that I found hard to resist. Do check out the Chocolate Chip Cookie post for more helpful photographs and advice on how to roll, wrap, slice and store the cookie logs. There’s nothing like having a roll of these stashed away in the freezer and surprising everyone with home baked cookies on a rainy afternoon. With very little effort, you can make people very happy!

This recipe makes about 3 to 4 dozen cookies from two cookie rolls.

⅓ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

(I like to use golden granulated unrefined sugar if you can get it, but ordinary granulated sugar works just fine.)

⅔ cup soft peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

½ cup liquid honey

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

a generous pinch of salt (less generous if you are using salted peanuts)

½ cup peanuts, chopped

You also need waxed or greaseproof paper, or baking parchment.

Cream the butter, sugar and peanut butter together by hand or in an electric mixer. Add the honey and then the egg. Mix together throughly.

Sift together the flour, soda and salt and add to the creamed mixture with the peanuts. Mix together thoroughly, being sure to incorporate all the flour. It’s better to do this part with a wooden spoon.

Take a large piece of waxed or greaseproof paper or baking parchment and sprinkle a little flour on it. Flour your hands a bit as well. Take half the cookie dough and put it in the centre of the paper. Using the paper to help you, shape the dough into a log about 11 to 12 inches (28 to 30 centimetres) long. Repeat with the rest of the dough using another piece of wax paper.

Wrap the dough up tightly in the paper or baking parchment.

Place the cookie dough logs in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. Later, or the next day, either freeze the dough, or bake it from chilled.

When you want to bake the frozen or chilled dough, preheat the oven to 350℉ (about 160℃ for a fan oven). Slice the cookie logs into slices just a bit less than one quarter inch thick (about half a centimetre) and place on baking sheets. They don’t spread all that much, but be sure to space them at least an inch apart. Each log will make about 15 to 20 cookies depending on how thick you slice them.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes from chilled (or 11 to 14 minutes from frozen) until they are lightly golden. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for at least five minutes before attempting to remove them. Carefully remove the cookies from the baking sheets and cool on a wire rack. Store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.

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