Cardamom spiced Peanut butter cookies

I love baking cookies for two simple reasons:

1. They are the easiest thing to bake. Don’t require proving or kneading and don’t have to acquire any particular shape, but just round.
2.  They are delicious to have with a cuppa, which obviously goes more in rounds when its cold and chili.. like now. 

I usually don’t like overly sweet cookies, and those which have chocolate in it. So I don’t make them that often. What I do love making though is these Carrot n cheese cookies, and my all-time favourite – Peanut butter cookies. And I have made them using 100s of different recipes,  out of which this one for today has proved to be the easiest one. 

It’s a super basic recipe. No frills, nothing fancy. No candy bar pieces, gooey caramel, chocolate chips, or sprinkles to take away from the massive peanut butter flavor. Trust me, you won’t miss any of that stuff! Just pure peanut butter. Ihave only added a pinch of cardamom powder to the batter which really uplifts the taste and tastes nice when eaten with tea. 

They’re not too fragile, they can hold their shape once cooled, and are melt-in-your-mouth soft! This makes just over 2 dozen cookies. You can easily double the recipe if you want more, but I was just baking for me and S so I didn’t need a million cookies. I used Waitrose’s own brand organic creamy butter to make these cookies, and they were fabulous! Feel free to add in some chocolate chips or M&M’s to the recipe if you’d like a little extra kick to your peanut butter cookies. 

While we are at the topic of Tea time, I wanted to tell you how fabulous our Supper club #Chaiparty went off this weekend. Tea India sponsored a selection of Indian “Chai” for the event which were loved by all. There was Masala Chai, Cardamom Chai and Vanilla chai, each one better than the rest. I especially liked the Cardamom tea, which was quite mild and flavourful. Have a look at some of the pictures from the afternoon, with loads of food and chai around.  

 

Well, the party was fun and we are looking forward to have another one very soon. As of now, lets enjoy the cookies !

What you need? 

• 1 cup All-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ tsp teaspoon baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder 
• ½ cup soft butter
• ¾  cup peanut butter
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾  cup sugar ( I used brown sugar for extra nutty flavour)
• 2 medium sized eggs 

How to make?

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Mix in both flours, cardamom powder, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
• Gradually mix in the flours, half at a time.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Roll into 1 ½  inch balls and make a criss-cross pattern using a fork. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet after taking them out for about 8-10 minutes before removing them with a spatula.
• Cool completely before storing. Enjoy! 

Notes:

• I am the worst when it comes to waiting for a cookie to get cooled off. I had these while they were still warm and honestly, they were heavenly. S liked them the other way round though, since that way he doesn’t have to pay attention while having them, men’s logic! But they were good either ways, so pick your way with them.
• I made them small and round, but you can also flatten them so the criss-cross pattern  shows off nicely.
• You may roll them on caster sugar before baking, so that will give an extra sugary crunch on the top.

 

If you like baking cookies at home, you might want to try these crispy Tutti frutti Biscotti as well: