This is a cookie that will appease both peanut butter lovers and chocolate chip fans: a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. You can certainly throw a handful of chocolate chips into just about any peanut butter cookie dough (or dip the cookies in chocolate!) to get this flavor combination, but peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies have different textures to them and this cookie delivers something encompasses elements of both types.
The cookies are big and tender, with a hint of crispiness on the edges and a slight chewiness to them that is more like a chocolate chip cookie than a straight peanut butter one. They don’t have an overly strong peanut butter flavor to them and I like to use crunchy peanut butter to get the addition of little pieces of peanut in the finished cookies. Smooth peanut butter will work just as well. I used a national brand (JIF, to be specific) but these cookies should work out well with natural peanut butter, too. If you are using unsalted peanut butter, you may want to increase the salt in the cookies by 1/4 teaspoon to highlight the peanut butter flavor a bit more.
These cookies keep very well and are a great change of pace from your average peanut butter cookie. I like dark chocolate chips in these, but milk chocolate chips also really compliment the peanut butter flavor of the cookies and will sweeten things up just a little bit. To really take a batch of these cookies over-the-top with peanut butter and chocolate, keep an eye out for mini peanut butter cups (Trader Joe’s carries them) and mix those in along with the chocolate chips.
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The standard chocolate chip for a chocolate chip cookie is semisweet chocolate, but over the past few years chocolate chip cookie-lovers have been looking for ways to improve on their favorite by chopping up other types of chocolate and adding them to their cookies. You can grab just about any kind of chocolate bar you like, with any cacao percentage, chop it up and add it to a batch of cookies to customize them to your personal tastes. I think that there is still something to be said for having that classic chocolate chip shape in my chocolate chip cookies, though, so I am always willing to try a new chocolate chip flavor if I spot one. Lately, I’ve been seeing new Nestle Tollhouse Dark Chocolate Morsels on store shelves and picked up a bag to try.
This dark chocolate version of the classic Tollhouse chip boasts a 53% cacao content and that it is a natural source of antioxidants on the front of the package, and it is a little bit more affordable than some of the premium dark chocolate chip brands out there. The chocolate chips do have a distinct dark chocolate flavor, with a distinct cocoa flavor and some fruity notes to back it up. Unlike a bar of dark chocolate, where you want the chocolate to have a sharp snap to it, these have a very smooth texture and melt easily in your mouth. This makes for a great melt in a still-warm chocolate chip cookie and actually produces a much more satisfying result than many other dark chocolates would. I’ll keep darker chocolate bars for snacking, but these dark chocolate chips are definitely a great choice for getting some dark chocolate into your baking.
Not sure what to get Mom for Mother’s Day? A copy of Small Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers might be just the thing. This cookbook features 150 chocolate recipes that have all been scaled down to meet the needs (and treat the tastebuds) of bakers who don’t need 4 dozen cookies or a whole 9-inch layer cake every time they want to bake something. Most recipes make just two or four servings – and without sacrificing any of the flavor or quality that you’d find in a full-sized dessert. I reviewed this book recently and now I’m giving away a copy of Small Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers. If you win, you can give the book to Mom for Mother’s Day or keep the book for yourself and use it to bake a chocolatey treat.
To enter the contest, leave a comment naming your favorite chocolate dessert below. The contest ends Saturday, April 30, at midnight and the winner will be randomly selected from all of the entries received. Don’t forget to fill in your e-mail on the comment form (it will not be public), as that is how I will contact the winner. Good luck!
Update: This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Patty for winning the copy of the cookbook! Thanks to everyone for participating and stay tuned for the next Baking Bites contest!
Last year, I was fortunate enough to be a judge at the American Pie Council‘s Crisco National Pie Championship in Florida. I got to taste dozens of pies and helped pick out the best in show. I would have done it again for their 2011 contest, but I was out of the country when the championship was held. I’m giving the pie contest a nod by baking one of their winning pies at home! The Engagement Ring Pie was the best-in-show winner in the professional category, baked by Bryan Ehrenholm of The Lunch Pail in Modesto, California. The pie was inspired by the royal engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton and is “is rich with history of English walnuts and dates, graced by a meringue crust and is topped the deep color of blueberries and encircled with the lightness of whip cream and diamond dust.”
Although the pie has some historic ingredients in it, it is hardly a traditional pie. The base of the pie is not a regular pie crust, but is a light meringue that is baked until it is crisp on the outside and chewy within. It is topped with a lightly sweetened and very shiny layer of glazed blueberries and garnished with whipped cream. It is striking to look at and very interesting – and tasty – to eat. The pie is sweet but not overly sweet, despite the meringue base, and has a very unique combination of flavors and textures to it. The topping is very flavorful thanks to bright, fresh blueberries, and has a little bit of richness to it from the glaze. The meringue is both crisp and chewy, but with a lightness that contrasts well with the topping. It is surprisingly flavorful from all of the nuts, dried fruit and vanilla wafers inside.
The pie base can be prepared a day in advance and kept, uncovered, at room temperature. Once the pie has been topped, it is best the day that it is made. The “diamond dust” in the original description is actually a type of edible glitter for cakes that can be found at craft and cake decorating stores. It adds a little extra “bling” to the pie, but isn’t necessary unless you are actually going to bring this out at an engagement party!
If you’re not celebrating the royal wedding, you can easily make variations on this pie to suit your own tastes. Other fruits would work well in the topping, such as raspberries or a combination of other berries. You could substitute pecans into the meringue for the walnuts – and you can use either toasted or untoasted nuts. As for the fruit, you can even change out the dates for other dried fruits, including plums (my top choice for a substitution here), apricots and even raisins. You can opt for a coarse or fine chop of your ingredients, but I found that I preferred a slightly finer chop of the dried fruits and nuts.
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