Sea Salt & Peanut Butter Cookies (Jamie Oliver)

I always admire and appreciate the way how Jamie Oliver cooks.

He is always stylish in his cooking and yet his food is always casual and relaxing to eat. He is always fast and swift in his cooking and yet his food is always nice and interesting to eat. Of all, I like Jamie Oliver because he believes in feeding kids healthy and nutritious food and respects all the animals that we eat.

I see a lot of Jamie Oliver's style in this cookie recipe. These vegan cookies are simple and ordinary-looking and yet made with lots of best quality ingredients....and of course, LOVE! With no cane sugar and butter added, these maple-infused cookies are lightly baked and slightly crisped on their outsides and a little fudgy in their inside. As a mum, I'm proud to bake these cookies for my family.

Making the cookie dough

Baking the cookies

Here's the recipe from Jamie Oliver Magazine (Mar / Apr 2012)
(with my modification in blue)

Makes about 24 cookies

300g spelt flour (I used wholemeal spelt flour)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (replaced by baking powder)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
250g organic chunky peanut butter 
(I used all natural smooth peanut butter with no added preservative)
250ml maple syrup (reduced to 200ml)
100ml extra-virgin olive oil (replaced with rice bran oil)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, or vanilla seeds from a split vanilla pod (I used vanilla seeds)
Sea salt flakes, for finishing

Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced)/gas 4.

Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Combine spelt flour, bicarbonate of soda (baking powder) and fine salt in a mixing bowl.

In a separate, larger bowl, stir the peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla until combined.

Pour the flour mixture over the peanut butter mixture and stir until barely combined. It should still be a bit dusty looking. Let the mixture sit for 5 min, then stir once more.

Drop the batter onto the baking sheets in heaped tablespoonfuls. Gently press down on each one with the back of a fork. It’s a loose batter,so if you want do criss-crosses, you’ll need to chill it for an hour or so first. 

(My batter is firmer because I have reduced the amount of maple syrup to 200ml and no chilling is required.)

Bake the cookies for 10-11 min, taking care not to over bake or they will be too dry. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt flakes while warm (I did this before baking). Let cool on the tray for 5 min then transfer to a wire rack.

Note: Using this recipe, I've baked 70 cookies at 160°C fan forced for 8 min.

Happy Baking
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