Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve had peanut butter on my mind lately. I’ve mixed it through my oatmeal and used it in these granola bars. That is not even to count the times in between I’ve it spread on a slice of warm toast to accompany some tea. I love its comforting familiarity…its unfancy goodness. Peanut butter…really…sometimes one need not look far afield for gastronomic treasures.

I was chatting online with my friend M (lovely M of the Moomin chopsticks) and she mentioned that she had made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and everyone at her workplace loved it. Just take your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and add chocolate chips she said. Shamefully, I had no such favorite peanut butter cookie recipe.

That had to change.

Flush in peanut butter love, I searched the web for a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe and this is what I came across. I’m so glad I did.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from Canary Girl)

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

- Cream butter and both sugars until creamy, then add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Add the peanut butter and continue to beat until combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine.
- Add chips and stir again.
- Drop small spoonfuls of dough onto parchment (you should get a dozen per sheet).
- Bake in a pre-heated 375F oven on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let them rest on the cookie sheet for one minute before removing to cool on a wire rack. Do not over-bake them. They may seem a little underdone but they will continue to cook outside the oven.

As you can imagine, peanut butter being so well loved, a marriage between it and chocolate chips would most likely be exponentially wonderful. It is. There are a lot of recipes out there but what I like about this one, aside from it's deliciousness, is its simplicity. It is a snap to make and yields so much more than the efforts you put in. I recommend you have them freshly baked when they are still soft and warm at their centers, and a glass of cold milk alongside is all you need to reach some sort of childhood-food nirvana. Like Reese’s peanut butter cups in cookie form. They are still good the following days although a bit crisper around the edges. I used sweet & creamy peanut butter and I think this made my batch a tad too sweet. I’ll stick with regular creamy next time. You can use any type of peanut butter you prefer, so if you like crunchy go ahead and use that. I am a strictly creamy peanut butter girl :)

I’m wondering if I may soon reach the end of my peanut butter rope. Will I wake up one day to find I’ve tired of my old friend? I sincerely hope not! It’s such a dependable pick-me-up and never fails to improve my disposition. Whoever said you can’t buy happiness was in looking in the wrong jar ;)

Sriracha Chicken Thigh Fillets

C and I can sometimes be like Mr. and Mrs. Sprat when it comes to eating. C likes leaner cuts while I adore the fattier morsels. C hardly ventures past tomato-based pasta while I love olive oil based ones. I look forward to a good French toast or yogurt for breakfast while C prefers a more Filipino-style, rice and meat/fish dish for his morning meal. C does not really have a sweet tooth to speak of, and when he does he favors fruit filled desserts…while I am a solid chocolate girl.

That being said, we also have a great deal in common food-wise. We love to experiment and try new dishes and ingredients. We love the gastronomic paradise that is Asian cuisine. We both agree that food is an essential part of travel. We both don’t fancy junk food too much. We love eating at home. You know, the important stuff.

And, also very important (at least in my book), we both love spicy food. Our crisper is home to 2-3 different types of fresh chilies at any given point in time. Our pantry is stocked with dried chilies, chili flakes, and various hot sauces and chili pastes. Sriracha is one of our current favorites. It is incredibly versatile. It can be used as a condiment, say in a Vietnamese soup, as a dipping sauce, or even to top a burger. It also works beautifully in marinades or rubs.

Sriracha Chicken Thigh Fillets

• 3-4 tablespoons sriracha (depends how much heat you like)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons pineapple or mango jam (I used pineapple-mango jam…yum!)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoon chopped green onion
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• Salt, to taste
• 6 chicken thigh fillets
• Canola oil for pan-frying

- Mix all the ingredients, except for the salt and pepper, in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt if needed.
- Pound your chicken fillets with a meat mallet (I do this in between 2 pieces of cling wrap to avoid bacterial chicken goo from splattering all over my kitchen) until they are of uniform thickness.
- Take a third of the marinade and pour this over your chicken pieces. Place in the fridge and let the chicken lay in its spicy bath for an hour or two.
- Heat a few glugs of canola oil on a non-stick skillet. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the chicken until they are cooked and have acquired some nice caramelization around the edges, turning once.
- Placed the cooked chicken on a chopping board and slice into strips. Lay on a bed of steaming white rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds (some chopped green onions would be good too but I didn’t have any!).

You can use chicken breast fillets but can I just try to convince you to thighs? They are really so much tastier and come out so much juicier…and are a bit more forgiving when you’ve erred on the side of overcooking. I love them so! But if you cannot abide by dark meat then go ahead and use breast fillets…we’ll still be friends :)

This recipe makes about 2-3 portions of marinade, depending on how you use it. Stash the rest in the freezer for future use...you won't regret it! For another meal, I used roughly 1/3 of the marinade on 3 pieces of chicken marylands (the leg and thigh together) which I then baked. You can also use it on chicken wings, which is I think is the most popular, or any other kind of chicken pieces you prefer. I'm thinking you could even try it on a whole roast chicken, basting with the extra marinade as it cooks. Or on a spatchcocked chicken on the grill (basting with extra marinade as well) if you are lucky enough to have a nice outdoor grilling space. I’m also itching to try it on some pork ribs! So you see, really versatile. If you’ve got some sitting smugly in your freezer, dinner will just be a matter of thawing and cooking.

This recipe is cobbled together based on several I found online. You can even learn to make your own sriracha here.

I’m thankful C shares my love for spice. I always have someone with whom to get goofily excited when finding new spicy sauces and I never have to temper the heat when I am cooking for the two of us (as I often have to do when we are cooking for company). So it’s easy to forgive when he is not to enthused about things like this or that ;)

Happy weekend everyone! And if you are Filipino happy independence day tomorrow! :)

***Thank you M for my Moomin chopsticks! I love them! :)

Thick, Chewy Granola Bars

I may have mentioned before that C is a mountain biker. Oh yes. Most Saturdays, at the crack of dawn, while I am burrowing farther into a warn duvet, relishing blissful weekend sleep-ins, C bounds out of bed ready to take on dirt and heat and arduous uphill climbs. How different are we. Just typing the words “uphill climbs” is leaving me out of breath.

I do think though, in theory, that mountain biking is a fantastic activity. It combines exercise, the outdoors, and camaraderie. You get to see new places and make new friends (as C has since he started). Unlike biking on a machine in the gym, you are actually going somewhere. Hell, you are sometimes even blazing your own trail or taking the path less travelled. In theory.

In actuality though, I would probably not get very far on a bike whose seat was too high for my feet to touch the ground.

Now bike ride snacks…that I can do. For that reason, I have been looking around for good granola bar recipes. The ones we get in the health food stores are a bit pricey, and I like the thought of C having something homemade and healthful to sustain him on his ride (instead of those weird gels they suck out of a foil pack…I know they are supposed to be small enough for a biker to tote and pack a big dose of energy but still, eew.). Rescue came by way of Smitten Kitchen and the most wonderful granola bars I have ever had.

Thick, Chewy Granola Bars
(from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from King Arthur Flour – I added my notes below)

• 1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/2 cup and it was just right for me)
• 1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, processed till finely ground in a food processor or blender)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I left this out)
• 2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (total of 10 to 15 ounces)*
• 1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (optional – I used peanut butter and I loved it…I urge you to use your favorite nut butter and if I had any say in the matter this would so not be optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, Deb was not convinced the flavor came through so I just left it out)
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup (I used Agave syrup)
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (see Debs’ Note below)
• 1 tablespoon water

- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides (I completely lined the pan). Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.
- Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners, and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it – Yes! Please use it!) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it – I used a spatula.)
- Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges (mine took 45 minutes) — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost under baked when you press into the center of the pan (Yup...I can attest to that) but do not worry (I worried, but I should have listened to Deb), they’ll set completely once completely cool (and wonderfully so!).
- Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up. – I ended up doing this because I had to slice and photograph them before the sun set!)
- Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife – I used a bench knife…I love my bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator (Thank you Deb for the humid weather tip!). They also freeze well.

*Suggestions: Dried cranberries, apricots, pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut, walnuts, sesame seeds, pepitas, dried apples or even chocolate chips. Deb’s mix. My mix: 1 cup walnuts (chopped), 1 cup macadamia nuts (chopped), 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup chopped dried figs, ¼ cup wheat germ.

Deb’s Note: The original recipe calls for something called “sticky bun sugar” which can be made at home with sugar, butter and corn syrup. It is for this reason that corn syrup is listed within one ingredient but also separately, and I used all butter rather than two different fats. Whether the corn syrup can be entirely replaced with honey or maple syrup or the butter can be entirely replaced with a healthier oil is worth auditioning, I just didn’t. Yet.

I really liked the mix I used, although I am definitely looking forward to experimenting. I’ll try pecans next time, and maybe some chocolate chips (MMM!). I have to say though, I loved (very much so in fact) the dried figs here. Baked to a sweet stickiness, their seeds providing an added crunch, they were magical, just magical. Granola bar goddesses. I’d be very sad to make a version without them.

C gave them the thumbs up and they will be accompanying him on his next ride. Me? I’ll be having my share while curled on our sofa (the brown one not the white one!) with a good book :)

Rich Chocolate Banana Bread

Let’s pretend. So much of how I entertained myself as a little girl had to do with pretending. I was never fast enough or strong enough or athletic enough or, um, lean enough to join in all the (reindeer games) physical activity (undoubtedly super fun I know I know) that went on with other kids my age. Instead I was mostly with my dolls or playing dress up or reading books or generally having a ball with that pre-PlayStation thing called “my imagination”.

My imagination was my savior on many rainy afternoons. It saw me through my bouts “in the corner” when I was naughty. It made mine and my brother’s Barbie and Transformers games possible. It made long car rides bearable. It made me believe I could be Scarlett O’Hara. No small feat that. All that for the bargain price of absolutely free!

To this day it’s still with me. I nurture and pamper it. Feeding it richly and indulging its many whims. Wild dreams and imaginings still see me through many of life’s events. Not the least being long queues at the bank and waiting in airports – oh how it helps in those situations! But also during times of anxiety and stress that often come with this territory called (phooey) adulthood. Some may think it childish escapism, these games of “let’s pretend”. I like to think of it as “creative solutions”.

Like now for example. Like let’s pretend I’ve never posted a banana bread recipe on this blog before.

Rich Chocolate Banana Bread
(from What’s for lunch, Honey?)

• 100g bittersweet chocolate
• 150g butter, softened
• 170g muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 25g cocoa powder
• 2 large bananas, ripe and mashed

- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, taking care not to let the water touch the bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Gradually add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder and fold into the wet ingredients (I like to use a flattish metal spoon for this).
- Add mashed bananas and melted chocolate and fold in well.
- Place in a greased and lined loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated 180C oven for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack, then wrap in baking paper or foil.

Meeta’s original recipe used 3 smaller loaf pans rather that one standard, and one loaf was topped with pink almond praline and the other with pistachios. I just left made one plain loaf, and let me tell you, it did not seem lacking at all! The cake is not too sweet, instead brimming with a dusky chocolate flavor which I feel works really well with the earthiness of muscovado (which in itself possesses dark notes). All this is held snugly together by the bananas' moist sweetness. In not so many words, yum :)

My wish for little C is that she discovers the wonders of the imagination before the world of Xbox and TV creeps in. There is no limit to what a little imagination can do…even if it’s just to pretend I haven’t posted the same cake in various guises! ;)

6/2/2010 update: It's Meeta's birthday! :)