Meike Peters | eat in my kitchen

I am impressed! I did not expect Doris' peanut butter cookies could possibly be turned into something even more delicious than the original recipe - once I called these cookies the best ever and for good reason. For years I didn't even feel the need to modify anything of the sweet formula created by our granny in Florida. Her cookies are perfect! But - I felt tempted, I couldn't let go of the idea of rough chunks of bittersweet chocolate melting into the nutty richness of these crunchy bites once it got stuck in my head.

It was a very quick project - another quality of these cookies, they can be done in 20 minutes. I chopped the chocolate first, moved on to unsalted peanuts lightly broken for the topping and waited impatiently in front of my oven to see how my kitchen experiment would turn out. My boyfriend was skeptical - we're talking about an old recipe from his beloved grandmother - but he approved in the end, they were just too good.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes about 40 cookies

plain flour 280g / 2 cups and 2 tablespoons
baking soda 2 teaspoons
salt 1/4 teaspoon
butter, at room temperature, 250g / 9 ounces
light brown sugar 280g / 1 1/3 cups
organic eggs 2
peanut butter (smooth not crunchy) 350g / 1 1/3 cups
bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, 160g / 5 1/2 ounces
peanuts (unsalted), roughly chopped, 70g / 2 1/2 ounces

Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (fan assisted oven) and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy, add the sugar and continue mixing for a minute. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, add the peanut butter and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mix well. Stir in the chopped chocolate and shape the dough into large walnut sized balls. Lay them out spaciously on the lined baking sheet, they will rise! Flatten lightly with a fork, sprinkle with peanuts and push the nuts lightly into the dough. Bake for 10-11 minutes until golden. Leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before you cool them completely on a wire rack.