Chinese Peanut Butter Cookies [Chinese New Year Goodie]

Here’s another Chinese New Year goodie that I love very much since I was a kid – Peanut Cookies! The traditional and authentic chinese peanut cookies are not easy to make at all – first raw peanuts have to be shelled and roasted. The peanut skin is then peeled off and the peanuts are ground into a powder. The peanut powder is then mixed with flour, sugar and oil into a dough before they can be portioned out and baked to deliciousness. These Peanut Cookies I’m featuring today are made via a shortcut method – by using Peanut Butter (hence the name Peanut Butter Cookies!) With peanut butter, all the roasting, peeling and grinding steps are redundant, and they are almost as delicious as the traditional ones!

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Making these cookies is really easy because no mixer is needed! All you need is to combine the ingredients together, knead them into a dough, scoop them into round balls, brush them with egg wash and they are ready for the oven! Just note that a good-quality peanut butter is a must to yield delicious peanut butter cookies. I would have used Skippy brand (my favourite peanut butter spread), but I ended up using a local brand here as it’s a lot cheaper and thankfully the cookies still taste good. Both chunky or smooth peanut butter will work here – it depends on what kind of cookie you like. Icing sugar is used instead of any other kind of sugar because it will give the cookie a melt-in-mouth-texture. Salt is added to balance out the sweetness and to just give a hint of saltiness. I used canola oil as I couldn’t find any peanut oil here, which would have made them even more peanut-y.

These peanut butter cookies won’t fall apart when you hold them in your hands but once you put one in your mouth, it will just crumble and melt away. It’s rich, peanut-y and sooo delicious that one cookie is definitely not enough!

(P.S. I have baked another batch of peanut cookies using the traditional method and I’ve discovered a secret ingredient to make them even more melt-in-the-mouth! It’s so good that you will definitely go “woah!” when you eat them, stay tuned to 1 Feb 2016 for the recipe!)

1) Sift flour, icing sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl.	2) Add in peanut butter.
3) Add in oil.	4) Stir with a rubber spatula or with your hand until a dough is formed.
5) Scoop a spoonful of dough and roll into 1-inch balls or scoop 10 grams of dough and roll into a ball.	6) Brush the top of the dough with egg wash, making sure they do not drip down to the bottom of the dough, otherwise the bottom may burnt during baking.
7) Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookies crack and the top is golden-brown.

Once the cookies have cooled, dig in!

Here are other Chinese New Year Goodies on the blog if you are interested!

Cashew Cookies

Baked Crab Sticks

Pineapple Tarts

Kueh Lapis

Chinese Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Print

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

These Peanut Butter Cookies are quite dry, which is how traditional Chinese Peanut Cookies taste like. If you prefer a moister and a more cookie-like peanut butter cookie, do check out my favourite recipe!

By: Jasline N.

Yield: 40 to 45 cookies

Ingredients

• 180 grams plain flour
• 80 grams icing sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine salt
• 100 grams sweetened peanut butter spread
• 80 grams peanut / canola / vegetable oil

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C / 355F (not fan-assisted). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Set aside.
2. Sift flour, icing sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add in peanut butter and oil. Stir with a rubber spatula or with your hand until a dough is formed.
3. Scoop a spoonful of dough and roll into 1-inch balls or scoop 10 grams of dough and roll into a ball. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Place them 1½-inch apart from each other on the baking sheet.
4. Combine egg yolk and water together in a small bowl. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash, making sure they do not drip down to the bottom of the dough, otherwise the bottom may burnt during baking.
5. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookies crack and the top is golden-brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before storing them in an airtight container (or in your belly!)

Naggy

- Adapted from Dine with Leny

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