Peanut butter cookies with dulce de leche

Growing up, my dad’s special spread mix on toast consisted of butter, peanut butter and kaya (a coconut jam). It might appear strange to you, but it remains my favourite spread mix on toast… and brings a smile to my face to think my dad is having the same on the other side of the world. In fact, I’m spoilt rotten when I’m back home – he still makes this spread on toast for me. So, I grew up loving peanut butter and can have spoonfuls of it at a pop.

I decided to make these peanut butter cookies after coming across the recipe on David Lebovitz’s blog. I’ve been reading David’s blog for years now but have never tried a recipe from it. He pairs the cookies with homemade salted peanut caramel but I opted for the easy way out and used some dulce de leche instead.

Dulce de leche is a caramel-like sauce that is made from condensed milk. You can make your own, and David has a good recipe here but I buy mine (St. Ignacio dulce de leche) from a specialist coffee shop in Soho, London.

What you’ll need

• 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 120g packed light brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g creamy salted peanut butter
• 250g flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 8 tbsp dulce de leche, or more depending on the size of the depression in your cookies

To make your cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line two baking sheets with baking paper or silicone baking mats.
2. With an electric mixer, or by hand, make the cookie dough by beating the butter, brown and caster sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. If using an electric mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Beat in the peanut butter.
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir until there are no patches of flour.
6. Scoop up teaspoon sized portions of the dough (I used my measuring spoon) and roll each piece between your hands so they’re as smooth as possible so they don’t crack at the edges when performing the next step.
7. Space the cookie balls 2cm apart on the baking sheets, then use the rounded end of a wooden spoon, or your thumb, to make a depression in each one. Don’t worry too much if the sides crack, push them back together.
8. Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during cooking, until they are light-golden brown and the edges barely start to darken. Remove from the oven, and while they’re warm, press in to reinforce each depression with the end of the wooden spoon. Let cool completely.
9. Spoon some dulce de leche into each cookie. Try not to eat too many at a pop. Try.

Tips from David: The cookies will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. The unbaked dough can be rolled into rounds and stored in a heavy-duty freezer bag in the refrigerator or freezer, until ready to bake.

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz’s peanut butter cookies with salted peanut caramel who adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

Yields about 70 cookies