Unsalted Peanut Cookies Recipe

                  

These melt-in-mouth Peanut Cookies are made with unsalted peanuts, are egg-less and make a delightful festive treat. The cookies are delicate, fragrant and crumbly in texture with a mild sweet taste and a distinct nutty flavor coming from the toasted peanuts. The recipe is fuss-free (uses just one blender jar) to make the cookie dough. It replaces refined flour (all purpose flour) with whole wheat flour. These addictive peanut cookies also make a wonderful edible gift for the holiday season and the ongoing Lunar New Year festivity. 

                   

What are Peanut Cookies ?

Classic Peanut Cookies are a must-bake for the Chinese New Year Festival. Traditionally the cookies are made using ground toasted peanut, plain flour, sugar, eggs and butter. The cookie dough balls are brushed with egg-wash prior to baking to get the golden color and glaze. In Indonesia, the festive peanut cookies are made using peanut butter instead.

                   

Short Video for Eggless Peanut Cookies

         

What is Lunar New Year?

Also known as the Spring festival, Lunar New Year is a 15 day celebration typically celebrated in China and other Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Tibet and Vietnam. It begins with the first new moon of lunar calendar and ends with the first full moon of the Lunar calendar. The lunar New Year is celebrated as Tet by the Vietnamese people and Seollal by the Koreans. Visiting Family, eating large meals of traditional foods and parades are common Lunar New Year festivities across these cultures. Lunar New Year 2021 is on February 12, and in the terms of the Chinese Zodiac animal, it's the year of the Ox.

Peanuts are known as longevity nuts in the Chinese culture. They symbolize vitality, longevity, riches and honor. Chinese New Year snack include raw unshelled peanuts.

Health Benefits of Peanuts:             

Peanuts are an excellent plant based source of protein and are rich in various vitamins, healthy fats and fiber. Peanuts add a nutty flavor and creamy texture to the dish apart from the various health benefits it offers. They contain potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and Vitamin B. Despite being rich in calories, peanuts are nutrient rich and low in carbohydrates. Eating them in moderation as a part of balanced diet may support heart health, help a person to maintain healthy weight and manage the blood sugar levels. peanuts have more protein than any nut (7 gram per serving) containing more than 30 essential vitamins and minerals, and are a good source of fiber and good fats.

                          

What goes into my version of Peanut Cookies? The Ingredients:

These utterly delicious peanut cookies can be easily made at home using just 6 basic ingredients. The recipe is fuss-free and straight-forward.

• Unsalted Raw Shelled Peanuts: Unsalted raw peanuts are the main ingredient of these peanut cookies. The peanuts can be toasted either on a stove top or in an oven. The nutty flavor from the toasted peanuts is the key feature of these cookies. Peanut butter can be used instead for convience. Also if peanut butter is used, these cookies can be vegan as then peanut oil can replace ghee or melted butter.
• Whole Wheat Flour: These cookies are healthy when compared to the store bought cookies as this recipe replaces plain flour with whole wheat flour. The cookies turned out to be very delicate and melt-in-mouth types.
• Powdered Sugar : Powdered sugar is the sweetener used in this cookies. I had plans to replace sugar with jaggery powder, as i do in almost all my desserts but the color of the cookies would have changed and i wanted them to appear  as close as possible to the classic peanut cookies made for the Lunar New Year celebrations. My next attempt would be definitely using jaggery. You may use coconut sugar for a healthier option.
• Ghee/ Melted Butter : I have used melted butter or ghee which gives these cookies the melt-in-mouth texture. If using peanut butter instead of peanuts , you may replace melted butter with peanut oil.
• Baking Powder: Leavening agent.
• Salt: Brings out the mildly sweet taste and the toasty flavor of peanuts in the cookies.

                                       

Related Events: Lunar New Year Feast @Foodie Monday Blog Hop and A to Z Recipe Challenge Group - Alphabet 'U'

The theme for the 284th week on Foodie Monday Blog Hop, is Lunar New Year Feast. Foodie Monday Blog Hop is a Facebook gourmet group, where a bunch of passionate food bloggers share their culinary skills every Monday depending upon a pre- decided theme. The hostess for this week was Singapore based blogger, Preethi di. Lunar new Year being a major festival and holiday season in many Asian countries including Singapore, she proposed this theme. She suggested that we share a festive food which can be sweet or savory but it has to essentially made for the Lunar New year Festival. I chose to bake these must-have Peanut Cookies as my contribution towards the theme. Her Dates Cuppies , sugarless, eggless and butterless cupcakes made using just 4 ingredients are next on my to-do list. Meanwhile, do check out her space for some wonderful and easy-to-make recipes from around the globe. 

                           

These delectable Peanut Cookies are also featured in the Facebook Gourmet Group, A to Z recipe challenge, where I post every month with a key ingredient having particular alphabet. Going by the alphabetical order, for the month of  February, we have to cook a dish starting with the alphabet 'U'. With very few ingredients at hand starting with Alphabet U , i chose Unsalted Peanuts as my key ingredients and made these festive Peanut cookies which are just apt for the ongoing Lunar New Year Celebrations and Holiday Season.

                                   

Dietary Tips:

• Festive cookies
• Egg-less bake
• Kid Friendly
• Edible Gift
• Peanut cookies

Storage Instructions:

• These peanut cookies stay good at room temperature for about 2 weeks when stored in an air-tight container. They can be frozen up to 3 months, layers separated by wax paper. 
• These festive cookies are fragile and if you wish to pack them as edible gifts, wrap them in pairs with bottoms together which makes them a bit sturdier. Double wrap the pair of cookies in a plastic wrap and then carefully place them in an air-tight container and then gift wrap it.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Serves: Around 18-20 cookies

Ingredients: Measurements Used - 1 cup = 240 ml

• 1 cup raw shelled peanuts
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup ghee
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

                             

Method:

1. Roast the peanuts on a skillet at low flame until crisp and golden brown. You may alternatively toast them in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius by spreading the peanuts in a single layer on a foil coated baking tray. Bake the raw peanuts for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until fragrant and golden brown. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Line the baking tray with a parchment paper.  

                               

2. Once the peanuts have cooled down, de-skin them. Reserve 2 tablespoons for topping the cookies and pulse the rest in a food processor jar or grinder jar to a fine powder.  

                                

                                 

3. Sift the whole wheat flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt in the same jar we pulsed the peanuts. Pulse the mixture to blend all the dry ingredients with the ground peanuts. Add ghee and blend again until you get a dough.

                                 

  

                                 

                                 

4. Pinch out small gooseberry size portion from the cookie dough and roll into ball between your palms, slightly flatten it by giving mild pressure taking care that no cracks are formed on it. Place the shaped cookie dough balls on the greased or lined baking tray at least one inch apart. Press a peanut half into the top of each dough ball.

        

      

5. Transfer the cookie tray into a preheated oven and bake at 180 Degrees Celsius for around 20-25 minutes. The cookies develop cracks and turn golden pink in color. Allow the cookies to remain in the oven for 5 minutes and then allow them to cool on a wire rack. Bake all the cookies similarly. The cookies are very fragile while hot, so handle with cake. They harden slightly on cooling.

 

6. Serve the cookies and enjoy a flavorful treat with your loved ones ! Store the remaining in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Recipe Notes:

• The traditional Chinese Peanut cookies are made using unsalted peanuts, sugar, eggs and plain flour. They have a golden color and glaze on them because they are brushed with egg-wash prior to baking. My cookies are egg-less and substitute refined flour with whole wheat flour.
• You may use homemade or store bought peanut butter for convenience. For intense peanut flavor and for a vegan version replace ghee with same quantity of peanut oil and use peanut butter instead of roasted peanuts. Click here for the recipe of homemade peanut butter.
• The above quantity will yield around 2 dozen small size cookies. The recipe can be easily halved or doubled depending upon the requirement.
• Vanilla essence can be added to flavor the cookies. I have not used.
• Jaggery powder or coconut sugar may be used as sweetener for a healthier version. Though, if using jaggery powder, the color of the cookies will obviously change.
• These peanut cookies stay good at room temperature for about 2 weeks when stored in an air-tight container. They can be frozen up to 3 months, layers separated by wax paper. 
• These festive cookies are fragile and if you wish to pack them as edible gifts, wrap them in pairs with bottoms together which makes them a bit sturdier. Double wrap the pair of cookies in a plastic wrap and then carefully place them in an air-tight container and then gift wrap it.

Would love to hear from you !

I hope you would love trying out these delectable peanut cookies this festive season. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with use in the form of likes and comments in the section below this post.

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See you soon with yet another healthy and delicious creation from my Kitchen. Until then Stay safe and eat right !

Happy Cooking !

Happy Eating !

 

Regards

Poonam Bachhav

 

Related Posts: For more peanut recipes, do check out the following from this blog

• Homemade Peanut Butter

• Peanut Curd Dip

• Instant peanut Coconut Ladoos

• Shengdanyachi Chutney / Peanut Chutney from Maharashtrian Cuisine

• Peanuts, Sesame Seeds,Coconut Ladoos

• Peanut Sesame Fudge

• Protein Chikki