Peanut and Currant Cookies

 I just had one of those moment where I felt like baking, but there was no way I was going to walk to the grocery store. I'm in Perth right now, sans car, and the weather does not seem to want to drop below 100 degrees. And even though the supermarket is only about 5 blocks away, I can't get myself to make the trip. So I did a quick search to see if there was a recipe I could make with the small amount of baking supplies I had on hand. What I have come up with is a variation of an Indian recipe that seemed like it could handle lots of supplementing. The outcome of this baking effort was a peanut butter flavored cookie that had a soft center (though not a "chewy" cookie). Almost a cross between a cookies and a cake. It went great with my chai tea this morning!

Adapted from Sanjay Thumma
Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes (less if you have a blender of food processor)
Baking time: 20 minutes

1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey (if you like a stronger honey flavor, omit some sugar and add more honey)
1 cup dry roasted peanuts, blended to a fine powder*
1/3 cup currants, chopped (raisins, sultanas or any similar dried fruit would be great)
2 1/2 cups flours (I subbed 1 cup for whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 150°C (or 300°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Using a bowl and wooden spoon, cream butter, sugar and honey. Add the finely ground peanuts to the butter mixture and mix well. Combine flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture and currants to the bowl and and mix until it comes to a crumbly consistency.

Whisk together the egg and milk in a separate bowl; add to the rest of the ingredients. If your dough is still too crumbly even with the addition of the egg, add a little more milk until it looks like a cookie dough.

Roll the dough between your hands to form 1 to 2 tablespoon sized cookies. Place each rounded cookie on your baking sheet and flatten the top a little bit. Space cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake for 20 minutes, until you start to see some cracks on top of the cookie. The color does not change much, so do not be alarmed if your cookies don't get the "golden" look.

*To dry roast peanuts, turn your oven to about 200°C (400°F). Place peanuts directly on cookies sheet and roast in oven until they become fragrant and lightly browned (about 5 to 10 minutes).

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