This year will be Christmas baking all about simple cookie recipes. The simpler the better!
I've never had the urge to bake loads of Christmas cookies, but I've loved trying new recipes and trying to find interesting types of cookies that I thought would hopefully fit into our family repertoire. But nowadays, instead of spending hours cutting out cookies and carefully watching the tiny pieces of cookies in the oven to prevent burning, I'd rather lie down and sleep... if the kids let me.
But I'm not going to give up baking Christmas cookies so easily and I'll definitely bake a few simple types this year, including these delicious, easy and relatively healthy peanut butter and chocolate cookies. .
A delicate peanut butter shortbread cookie made with only wholemeal flour and sweetened with coconut syrup matches perfectly with dark chocolate. And this is a combination that not only my husband and I love, but especially our two-year-old son. And when it's healthy on top of that, I have no problem baking these cookies for them any time of the year.
The simplicity of this recipe is that you don't have to roll and cut out the shapes , but just make the dough into balls that flatten slightly. And the biggest secret is the chocolate! You don't have to mess with any chocolate frosting. Just buy chocolate chips and put them on the warm cookies one at a time. The chocolate will melt with the heat of the cookies and that's it. The chocolate chips look beautiful on the cookies and it's so simple to make!
Which chocolate chips go well with healthy peanut butter cookies?
The perfect choice is to use flat chocolate chips with a diameter of about 1.5 cm. We prefer dark chocolate (around 60°%), but the shortbread peanut butter cookies go well with any milk or white chocolate.
Is baking with wholemeal flour healthier?
Wholemeal flour contains more nutrients, fiber and protein than white flour because the whole grain is ground into the flour, including the germ and hull. B vitamins, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and iron are the most abundant in wholemeal flour. In addition, wholemeal flour products have a lower Glycemic Index. This means that they fill us up sooner and the sugar is then released more slowly.
You don't have to be afraid of using wholemeal flour in the cooking because it works in a similar way to white flour. It just has less gluten compared to regular white flour, which doesn't bother you at all with shortbread cookies, on the contrary! But if you don't know how to work with whole wheat flour, just add just a part of the whole wheat flour to the dough and for the rest use regular white wheat flour. Even with a small amount of whole wheat flour, your baked goods will have more nutrients and be healthier.
With what to sweeten healthy peanut butter cookies with chocolate?
You can use whatever sweetener you like! We used to make them with cane sugar. It will also make the dough crispier and a bit more sweet. But we mostly like to add instead. It has a wonderful caramel flavor and the cookies are very delicate with this syrup. The benefit of the syrups is that they don't have to be whisked for a long time when making the dough because they are liquid. Maple syrup, honey, date syrup or chicory sweetener will also work well, as will classic powdered or vanilla sugar with small crystals.
How to make healthy peanut butter and chocolate cookies?
First, make sure all the ingredients are at the same room temperature. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, butter and coconut syrup until creamy. Sift in the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and stir well. Finally, add the egg yolk and mix with a spatula. The dough may seem too thin at this stage, but don't add any extra flour or the cookies will be too dense.
Transfer the dough to a container with a lid and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest and firm up. Roll the chilled dough into 1,5 cm diameter balls and then lightly flatten them on a baking sheet. Bake them for approximately 3-5 minutes in a preheated oven at 170°C until golden brown. WARNING - the cookies are still baking on the baking sheet after they are removed from the oven.
Immediately after removing from the oven, place the chocolate chips on top of the cookies, which will melt with the heat. Alternatively, you can put the cookies with the chocolate chips in the hot oven for a few more seconds.
How to store healthy peanut butter and chocolate cookies?
Once cooled, stack the cookies in an airtight box and refrigerate them. This should keep the cookies good for up to two weeks. The cookies can also be frozen for about 2 months.
Warning! Depending on how much you melt the chocolate chips on the cookies, they may happen to begin to separate over time. Especially if they are kept in a cold environment for a long time or they are roughly manipulated. Therefore, if you plan to store the cookies for a longer period of time, put the cookies with chocolate chips in a hot oven for a few seconds to allow the chocolate to thoroughly stick to the cookie, as I recommend in a recipe.
TIPS:
- if you don't have chocolate chips, make chocolate glaze: heat chocolate in a water bath with a little cocoa butter or coconut oil and spoon the glaze into the centers of the cookies or just drizzle the cookies decoratively
- you can roll the dough balls in crushed peanuts, nuts, coconut, crushed cocoa beans or granulated sugar before baking - this adds an extra yummy layer to the cookies
- finely chopped nuts , peanuts or pumpkin seeds can also be added to the dough
- instead of peanut butter can be also used any other nut butter
Recipe
Recipe for 60 pcs
Healthy peanut butter and chocolate cookies
Ingredients:
- 90 g wholemeal spelt or wheat flour
- 0,5 tsp (2 g) baking soda
- 0,5 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 120 g peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
- 60 g butter, in a room temperature
- 50 g coconut syrup or any other sweetener
- 1 egg yolk
- large chocolate chips (1,5 cm) or chocolate glaze for decorating
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, butter and coconut syrup until creamy.
- Sift in the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and stir well.
- Finally, add the egg yolk and mix with a spatula.
- Transfer the dough to a container with a lid and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest and firm up.
- Roll the chilled dough into 1,5 cm diameter balls and then lightly flatten them on a baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 3-5 minutes in a preheated oven at 170°C until golden brown. WARNING - the cookies are still baking on the baking sheet after they are removed from the oven.
- Immediately after removing from the oven, place the chocolate chips on top of the cookies, which will melt with the heat. Alternatively, you can put the cookies with the chocolate chips in the hot oven for a few more seconds.
- If you don't have chocolate chips, make a chocolate glaze for decorating the cookies.
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