Peanut butter cookies and great music

I have been baking cookies like crazy lately, I could say it has become an addiction: every time I see a cookie recipe online or in a cookbook I want to make it, and I pretty much do it most of times – luckily for me my family likes cookies as much as I do and I don’t have to eat them all myself. :D

There is something else I’ve been obsessing about these days and it’s not food: Ra Ra Riot – I’ve been listening to one of their songs for ages, so last week I decided to search for their songs on Spotify and I became a fan for the songs are really good and they have a cover of one of my all time favorite songs.

I’ll admit it that when it comes to music I am a bit of a coward: if I like a song too much, I avoid listening to other songs by the same singer/band out of fear of getting disappointed (you can go ahead and laugh now). :)

I was brave enough this time – it’s taken me what, two and a half years? – and it paid off: the other songs by Ra Ra Riot are amazing, and my favorites are “Beta Love”, “Angel, Please” and “For Once” – I’ve been listening to them nonstop while cooking and baking, and one of the results were these delicious and super easy to make peanut butter cookies, a recipe from one of the most beautiful cookbooks I own.

Peanut butter cookies
slightly adapted from the über beautiful The Baking Collection (The Australian Women's Weekly)

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (70g) crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup (130g) light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (75g) roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients, then stir in the peanuts.

Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie into balls, place them 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets and flatten each ball lightly with a floured fork.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool in the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully slide the paper with the cookies onto the rack and cool completely.

Makes about 40