Peanut Cookies - 5 Ingredients

Salty and sweet peanut balls that crumble and melt into a puddle of peanut butter in your mouth. Like eating peanut butter straight from the jar, the crunchy type. Dangerously moreish and only requires 5 ingredients.

I like the 5 ingredients idea. The theory is that the fewer the ingredients, the easier it is to make. It also means less food waste. And it fits in my minimalist living resolution this year.

Talking about resolutions. One of my resolutions last year was to update this space more often. Well that was a fail. Like my other 10 resolutions. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I will try harder this year. In case you haven't noticed, I have given this blog a makeover. It's about time anyway as the old design was starting to look tired. What do you think? Do you like my new blog layout?

If I'm to split this blog into 3 categories, what should it be? I'm thinking maybe based on difficulty levels - easy, challenging, and time consuming?

These peanut cookies fall under the easy category as the food processor does majority of the work.

Peanut Cookies - 5 Ingredients
Makes about 60

200 grams peanuts - see note 1 below
200 grams plain flour
80 grams caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt - see note 1 below
6 tablespoons macadamia oil (or peanut oil) - you may require more oil. see note 2 below
Roasted peanuts, halved for each cookie
1 egg, lightly beaten for glazing

To make peanut cookies:
Preheat oven to 170C conventional (or 150C fan-forced). Line a baking tray/sheet with baking paper.

Place peanuts, plain flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Blitz until the peanuts have the same consistency as the flour (about 30 seconds).

Add oil and pulse until it forms a dough. See note 2 below.

Scoop a tablespoon of dough, shape into a ball, and place onto the baking tray/sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Gently press a peanut half on top of each cookie. Dip your finger into the egg, and lightly dab on each cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the tray. Store in airtight container.

Note 1: Use raw (unsalted and unroasted) peanuts if possible as you can control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. Salted roasted peanuts can be used in this recipe, just omit the salt in this case. Roast the raw peanuts in a preheated oven at 160C for 5-10 minutes or until golden.

Note 2: If the dough is too dry and not coming together, add more oil, a tablespoon at a time. I needed about 10 tablespoons of oil in total. The dough is ready when you can shape a tablespoon of dough into a ball without it falling apart.