smoked paprika peanut butter cookies w/ a cheese skirt!!
a peanut butter cookie puts on a party skirt & hits the town
Peanut butter cookies and cheese?!! It’s wacky. A lot of things are these days (let’s not get into it).
Here’s what I won’t do: I won’t try to convince you that this flavour combination works. I know it does. Granted, I did consult The Flavor Bible and cheese and peanut butter aren’t listed as a best match, or a match at all for that matter. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Again, it is!!
Stay with me –
This cookie sits smack dab in the middle of the sweet/savoury Venn diagram. Is it peanut butter-y? Yeah! Is it cheesy? That too! Is it too much of one or not enough of either? No! The paprika is subtle, but its understated smoky-sweetness complements both the cookie and the cheese, marrying the two together. It’s also a textural joy: chewy, crispy, a bit soft, with a delightful *snap* when you break into that baked, lacey cheese skirt.
Regardless of your moral stance on peanut butter (i.e. all natural or not), the best peanut butter cookies use the sinful, hydrogenated, sugar-very-much-added stuff—a Kraft or Jif will keep your cookies moist and soft, whereas a natural peanut butter will give you something oily and dry (i.e. a lesser cookie). You can omit the smoked paprika (I hope you don’t), but I am going to ask you to refrigerate your dough overnight as it really does make a difference in both flavour and texture. My tombstone will read “here lies a woman who believed in cured cookie dough”.
If I have lost you on this one, that’s ok! Desserts, cookies in particular, should make you happy, and if the idea of cheese with your sweet snack doesn’t do just that, good grief skip it! We’ll agree to disagree! The peanut butter cookies, sans skirt, hold their own and are more than worth making. That being said, cheese skirt skeptics, hear me out: just try it. Gussy up ONE cookie with cheese. If you hate it, you’ll get to say “see, Ksenia, I told you so!” (arguably more satisfying than being pleasantly surprised!).
Recipe follows below! Thanks for being here!
smoked paprika peanut butter cookies w/ a cheese skirt!!
ingredients:
120g cake flour
120g bread flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon smoked paprika (plus more for dusting)
115g unsalted butter, room temp
142g light brown sugar
113g granulated sugar (plus more for dusting)
115g creamy peanut butter
1 large egg, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a handful or so of roasted + salted peanuts (i don’t chop mine but you could!)
aged cheddar cheese, finely grated – 8-10g per cookie
method:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and smoked paprika.
In a large bowl, using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy and very light, roughly 5 minutes, scraping down your bowl every so often. Add the peanut butter and mix until combined. Add the egg, mix well, followed by the vanilla.
Add dry ingredients in 2 increments and mix on low speed until just combined. Toss in your handful-ish of peanuts and mix until incorporated evenly.
Scoop dough into 50g balls and refrigerate on a parchment lined baking sheet for 24-48 hours. It’s worth it and I won’t apologize for asking you to do this.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F.
Combine roughly 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika. Set aside.
Finely grate your cheese. You’ll need 8-10g per cookie, so total amount will vary depending on how many of your dough balls are getting dressed up. Up to you!
On a lined baking sheet, make your cheese skirts: arrange 8-10g grated cheese in a circle, with most of the cheese around the border, and a thinner layer in the centre–it will be about 4 inches in diameter. Place a ball of dough in the centre of each and load the oven.
After 10 minutes baking time, gently smush/pat down each cookie with a flat rubber spatula. Sprinkle with the sugar and paprika mixture, and return to the oven to bake for another 3-5 minutes. Do not overbake!!
Let cool on the baking sheet until the cheese skirt is set, then cool completely on a wire rack.
enjoy!!