Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches

, from Issue #62. November, 2015
Photography by Manja Wachsmuth.
Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches

Melt-in-the-mouth cookies are sandwiched with a smoked chilli peanut butter cream. Perfect with a cup of coffee!

INGREDIENTS

125 grams butter at room temperature
½ cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup plain flour
½ cup roasted peanuts, finely ground
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1½ tablespoons rice flour
1½ tablespoons cornflour
¼ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

To assemble
whipped peanut butter cream (recipe below)

Whipped Peanut Butter Cream
½ cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth (I used Fix & Fogg brand)
3 tablespoons butter 
1½ cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170˚C fan bake.

Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy.

Combine all the remaining ingredients, except the roughly chopped peanuts, and beat into the butter mixture.

Roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place on a lined baking tray, leaving a little space between them for spreading. Gently press down with a fork to flatten into ½ cm circles. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts, pressing them into the dough gently. Chill for 15 minutes to firm up.

Bake for about 12 minutes until lightly golden. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. The unfilled biscuits will keep for 3 days in an airtight container and the filled biscuits are best eaten on the day of filling. Makes 16 single cookies

Whipped Peanut Butter Cream: Beat all the ingredients together until light and airy. Transfer the filling to a piping bag and pipe onto half of the biscuits or simply spread with a knife. Top with the remaining biscuits. Makes 8 double cookies

Cook’s Tip: I used Fix & Fogg’s Smoke & Fire chunky peanut butter to add a lovely smoked chilli hit to the filling. If using regular peanut butter, add a pinch of cayenne pepper if desired.