Tag: peanut butter

No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Walnut Cookies

TGIF! This week went by like a crazy whirlwind at work. Every night I came home so exhausted, I didn’t even have energy to stand in my kitchen. This weekend we are going camping, but I haven’t even started packing yet. The weather should be beautiful, so hopefully I will come back feeling refreshed and ready for next week!

Every Sunday I like to make something yummy to get me through the work-week. This past Sunday, I made these no-bake chocolate coconut walnut cookies. They are so easy to make, no oven required! All you need is a stove-top or microwave to heat up the ingredients, stir, shape and refrigerate. They are good for a week when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Even though they have a fairly high calorie count per cookie, they provide healthy antioxidants (cocoa), fiber (oats), protein (peanut butter and walnuts), and omega-3 (walnuts). I like to eat one of these when I am low on energy and need a pick-me-up. They don’t last very long though!!

By the way, my friend Louise over at Healthy Recipes Magazine is offering all My San Francisco Kitchen readers a free 3-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to get started on cooking some healthy recipes in your kitchen! Special thank you to Louise & all at Healthy Recipes Magazine.

Have a great weekend! XoXo

5.0 from 2 reviews

No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Walnut Cookies

Prep time

15 mins

Total

15 mins

Type: Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1 and ½ tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp butter
⅓ cup and 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
3 tbsp milk
⅓ cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy!)
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

Add butter, milk, honey/maple syrup and cocoa to a small sauce pan and heat on medium until butter is melted. Stir well.
Add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Stir well.
Remove from heat and stir in walnuts and shredded coconut. If they are too dry, you can add a little more milk or peanut butter; they should be wet enough to hold together, but not too wet where they won’t hold their shape nicely.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet.
Flatten with the back of a spoon and shape with your hands into a cookie, with desired thickness.
Chill in the refrigerator (best result is at least 2 hours, but you can eat them before!).

Makes 12 cookies

3.2.1753

You Might Also Like:

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Homemade Pesto Sauce

Black Forest Cake in a Glass

Share and Enjoy

Slutty Peanut Butter Bars

Not too long ago I made some really delicious, overindulgent cookie-bars. I say “cookie-bars” because that is exactly what they were- part chocolate chip cookie and part brownie bar. As if that didn’t make them rich enough… I placed a layer of Oreo’s right smack in the middle. They are called Slutty Brownies. Funny name for a dessert, right? Haha I didn’t name them and I certainly didn’t come up with the idea behind them. I’m sure the idea to combine three such beloved treats goes back very far to some unknown origin. The only thing that makes my version stand out from the rest is that it uses two really great recipes, both from Cooks Illustrated, which makes for what I like to call The Ultimate Slutty Brownie!

Since those went over so well, I thought I would try my hand at creating a peanut butter version. At first I thought I would do a peanut butter cookie dough with chopped Reeses‘ as the base, fill the center with peanut butter Oreos‘, and then top with the same chewy brownie recipe as the original Slutty Brownie. That idea was fine, but after further thought I came up with another one that I felt flowed better- peanut butter cookie dough with milk chocolate chips, Reeses‘ instead of Oreos’, and, again, my favorite chewy brownie recipe. You can do the first combination if you’d rather of course.

Gotta tell ya though, these didn’t turn out nearly as photogenic as the original slutty bars. The Reeses’ cup kind of blends into the peanut butter cookie dough, leaving it hard to see all the components when the bars are cut. But it still tastes great! And that’s all that matters right?

Unfortunately, these cookie-bars are so rich that you can really only serve yourself a small square… unless you’ve built up a tolerance like me of course hehe

For the Peanut Butter Cookie Base:
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
⅔ cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅓ cup milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 bag individually packaged Reeses’ peanut butter cups
For the Brownie Top:
⅓ cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1½ teaspoons instant espresso (optional)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups (17½ ounces) sugar
1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon table salt

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper.
For the Peanut Butter Cookie Base: In a large bowl, cream the peanut butter, butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in chips. Spread mixture evenly along bottom of prepared pan.
Arrange peanut butter cups over peanut butter cookie dough.
For the Brownie Top: Whisk cocoa, espresso powder (if using), and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined.
Spread batter over Reeses’ layer and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and c

Lofthouse Style Soft Peanut Butter Chip Sugar Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting

I’m sorry to put up two peanut butter recipes in a row, but the proportion of peanut butter recipes I make to other recipes is so high that this sort of thing is inevitable…and these cookies are amazing, so you need them in your life sooner rather than later.

Back when my metabolism was still going strong, I used to love Lofthouse cookies. I realize I haven’t really cut back on my cookie consumption since then, but somehow making homemade cookies instead of store bought helps me justify eating a cookie or two a day (I wish I was lying). The amazing thing about Lofthouse cookies is the incredible, inexplicably soft cookie paired with the overly sweet and amazing frosting. If you can’t think of what they look like, here’s the website for reference. If you’ve never them, go to your grocery store immediately and buy the ingredients for this recipe as well as a box of the real deal. It’s not excessive. It’s just necessary.

Anywho – I’ve never had a bad batch. They literally melt in your mouth. I’m not sure if it’s some sort of preservative that we’ve never heard of, or just plain magic makes the cookies so soft, but I wouldn’t want the Lofthouse elves (or equivalent) to change a thing.

Averie, being the queen of all things delicious, came up with this copycat recipe to try to achieve that same combination of soft (not underdone) cookie and sweet, creamy frosting. As she acknowledges, they aren’t exactly like Lofthouse cookies, but they are still incredible. I prefer everything cooked no more than the amount of time called for in the recipe, and usually a little less depending on the recipe. Cooking time is essential with this recipe. Some people like crispy cookies. I get that. This is not the recipe to tweak to make them crispy. Because of the ingredients they will not get crispy. Instead they will just be dry, and no one wants that. I cooked mine about nine minutes for a full cookie sheet. I also love the idea to freeze this cookie dough for quick baking at a later date. Enjoy!

Lofthouse-Style Soft Peanut Butter Chip Sugar Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe from Averie CooksYield: about 13 medium cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: about 8 minutes
Total Time: 3+ hours, for dough chilling

Ingredients:

Cookies

1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups cake flour (no substitutions)
2 teaspoons cornstach
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
one 10-ounce bag Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips (about 1 2/3 cups)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (use Peter Pan, Jif, Skippy, etc. — Not
homemade or natural PB because they’ll separate and so will the
frosting)
1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of 1 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch salt, optional and to taste
splash cream or milk, if needed to achieve proper consistency
chocolate sprinkles, optional for garnishing

Directions:

For the Cookies – To the bowl of a stand mixer
fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand
mixer), cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on
medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the next 5
ingredients (through optional salt), and mix on low speed until just
incorporated, about 1 minute; don’t overmix.
Add the peanut butter chips and mix until just incorporated. Dough will be on the sticky and tacky side.
Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop,
form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 13). Place mounds on a large
plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate
for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with
warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or
spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least
2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 8 to 9
minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set,
even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not
overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to
cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a
wire rack to finish cooking. Meanwhile, make the frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting –
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large
bowl and electric hand mixer), combine the peanut butter and butter,
and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Slowly add the sugar, optional salt, and mix until frosting comes together.
Add a splash of cream or milk as necessary to achieve desired consistency.
Add a generous dollop (about 2 tablespoons) to each cookie, and smooth it as desired with a knife or spatula.
Optionally garnish with sprinkles or chocolate chips. Serve immediately.

Note from Averie: Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for a few days or in
the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I’m okay with leaving buttercream
frosting at room temperature for a couple days; if you aren’t,
refrigerate the cookies, knowing they’ll dry out more. Unbaked cookie
dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or
frozen for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as
desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when
desired.