I love home baking to eat and to make to give away to friends. But realistically it’s not something I do on a regular basis, for all sorts of reasons. I do make these cookies often though. They are gluten free with readily available pantry ingredients and they can be whipped up within five minutes – if you’re organised! Have a play with the recipe and add more nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruit as the whim takes you.
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set the oven to 350F or 180C.
In a beautiful china bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg, salt and soda together until well mixed. Fold in the walnuts and cranberries or any other treat you want to add to your cookies.
Using two teaspoons, place blobs of the mixture neatly on the baking tray and allow room for the cookies to spread as they cook. Expect to get about 36 cookies.
Wet the tines of a fork and press down on the cookie to shape and decorate it. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and set the timer for 10 – 14 minutes. The cookies should be golden brown and slightly puffed up when cooked sufficiently. Don’t forget to use your nose to judge how well roasted you want your nut cookie to be!
Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the tray for five minutes. The cookies are very fragile at this stage! Then move them to a rack to cool completely. Resist them, if you can!