Honeycomb and Peanut Butter Cookies

Quite possibly the Dish team's favourite bake of the year - it's easy to underestimate the powerful punch of flavour these little gooey cookies deliver.

You can use almond, hazelnut or macadamia nuts and butter in place of the peanuts and peanut butter as they all pair beautifully with honeycomb. 

125 grams butter, very soft but not melted
½ cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup plain flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1½ tablespoons rice flour
1½ tablespoons cornflour
½ cup roasted peanuts, finely ground
2 x 50 gram Crunchie Bars (honeycomb)

Baking tray, greased and lined.

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 Crunchie Bars and beat into the butter mixture.
Put the Crunchie Bars in a plastic bag and gently crush with a rolling pin, leaving some of it a little chunky. Gently mix through the dough trying not to crush the larger pieces.
Roll teaspoons into balls and place on a lined baking tray, leaving a little space between them for spreading. You will need to cook them in two batches.
Gently press down with a fork to flatten just a little.

Chill for 15 minutes to firm up the dough.

Bake for about 12 minutes until golden, rotating the trays half way through for even cooking. Take out of the oven and using the tip of a knife, immediately push any toffee that has melted on the tray, back into the biscuit to reform into circles. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling racks. The unfilled biscuits will keep for 3 days in an airtight container and the filled biscuits are best eaten within 2 days of filling. Makes approx 40 single cookies.

Peanut Butter Filling

¼ cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups icing sugar
1-3 tablespoons milk

Beat the peanut butter and butter to combine. Add the icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat until light and airy, only adding the extra milk if needed to make a filling that can be piped or spread onto the biscuits.
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 20 double cookies.

I combined Smoke and Fire peanut butter from Fix and Fogg with regular Pic's peanut butter to add a little chilli hit to the filling.