Double Chocolate, Peanut & Miso Cookies
Ensconced on the couch, head on a mound of soft cushions, fluffy mohair blanket gathered around me I assumed my position for the days that lay before me as I moved through my turn at the dreaded virus. I’d chosen a Netflix series to begin my week of iso, which as the last one to fall in our house didn’t see me confined to my bedroom. Thankfully winter sun streamed through the windows it’s winter arc through the sky bathing my position in it’s warmth. I’d considered myself extremely lucky to have made it this far without infection indeed the whole family only endured the dreaded lurgy this year. We felt like the unicorn family, having escaped infection and exposure what felt like a million times. We were almost smug really, revelling in the health we’d enjoyed not only avoiding covid but all the annual winter bugs that normally prevail. But then the hammer fell and like a domino trail in slow motion one by one we dropped. First the 19 year old, then the husband, then simultaneously me and the 22 year old, who didn’t even know he was infected. From my spot on the couch my view towards the tv was interrupted by a pile of books that had grown recently with the balance of books read and acquisition of said books being somewhat out of balance. Normally the prospect of a week stuck on a couch with such a stack staring at me coaxing me to choose would be my idea of heaven but covid brain is real my friends. Concentration was sadly lacking so I turned to my streaming selection and started watching. Though concentration and energy was absent my appetite was not. Distracting me from my viewing was a jar of chocolate coated peanuts, a jar I’d been nagging my son to put away. Reaching for it and dipping my hand in the jar for a little snack. Not normally a flavour combo I would seek out or a treat I would yearn for the little crunchy chocolate nuggets hit the spot. As you can imagine the contents of that jar slowly dwindled over the following days as did my son’s patience with my indulgence of his chockies. His consternation sparked an idea. I’d been contemplating a chocolate biscuit idea for a while but hadn’t had a chance to experiment too much.
My nibbles of my son’s chocolate coated peanuts reminded me how delicious the two flavours are together combined with my new obsession with miso an idea was born, that after a few iterations, has resulted in these delicious cookies. Crisp on the outside, fudgy in the middle, almost reminiscent of a brownie and encasing chunks of dark chocolate and crunchy roasted peanut. They’re a little bigger than a chocolate coated peanut of course but in my humble opinion a whole lot tastier and even more hard to resist.
Ingredients:
160 gm unsalted butter softened
75 gm brown sugar
165 gm white sugar
2 tb white miso paste
1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
1 egg beaten
175 gm plain flour
¼ tsp salt flakes
30 gm dutch process cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
100 gm chopped dark chocolate
110 gm roasted unsalted peanuts
Method:
Preheat oven 180 c and line two cookie sheet trays with baking paper.
Combine the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl, whisk to combine thoroughly and aerate, set aside.
In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy. Add vanilla, miso paste and egg mixing again until well combined, scraping down the sides during the process to ensure it’s all mixed.
Sprinkle in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combine. Remove and fold in peanuts and choc chunks with a wooden spoon. This will take a little effort as it will be quite stiff. Place bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up while you tidy up. If your kitchen is particularly warm you may like to refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step helps control the cookie’s spread when they hit the oven.
Working quickly roll into golf ball size portions allowing room on the trays for them to spread during cooking.
Place in the oven for ten minutes. Remove at the end of cooking and allow to cool for five minutes on the trays before transferring to cooling racks to completely cool.