Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies

There's a little girl who lives across the street from us and we can see each other when i come out into our balcony and she comes to their kitchen balcony. And every time she sees me, she gives me a cute smile and an excited wave while shouting 'tataaa'. Their family moved into the apartment opposite our house about a year ago, when the kid was about 6 months old and she grew up before my eyes. She now shows off her bangles and her dress and any other accessories pointing at herself and then pointing at me to make me look. Her mother tells me how much the kid loves bangles and wears them for the whole length of the arm if allowed.

Two weeks back i found out that they were going to leave town. They didn't have any near relations in Hyderabad and planned to go back to Pune where they originally came from and had a lot of relatives. And all year long, we became so close to the kid though we never actually visited them at their house. They would visit us once in a while. So two days ago, my mother-in-law and i went to visit the kid and i made these egg-less butter cookies to gift to the little girl. I am not one to substitute for eggs in baking, but this family were vegetarians and so i made my first egg-less baking to keep with the sentiment.

When i first realised i was going to do some egg-less baking, i immediately went over to my recent favourite vegetarian website called ChefInYou. Initially i was a little disappointed to see that most of the cookies used egg, until i came to peanut butter cookies that could be made egg-less by substituting the one egg with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Since i also had a little less butter than recommended, i added 2-3 tablespoons more vegetable oil to make up for it. And instead of peanut butter, i used my home-made choco peanut spread. And because my choco peanut spread already had some sugar, i only used half cup sugar. I also substituted half cup of all-purpose flour from the original recipe with wholewheat flour to make it a little bit healthier. I guess that's about all the changes i made. Here's the original source and below is what i did.

My cookies look more brown because of the cocoa powder i added to the home-made chocolate peanut spread. For regular peanut butter, you will have a light golden brown finish. I got my feedback yesterday and i hear the kid loved them as much as the parents did. Happy happy happy me :-)

Ingredients

• 100 grams butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup chocolate peanut spread or regular peanut butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil (90 ml)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour/ maida
• 1/2 cup wholewheat flour (or substitute with all-purpose flour)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup peanuts, toasted and skinned

Method

Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the oil and vanilla and combine.

Chop the toasted and skinned peanuts coarsely or pulse them for a few seconds in a mixer/food processor. In a separate bowl mix together the flours, soda and crushed peanuts.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir gently. Using a tablespoon or your fingers, drop lime sized balls of the mixture on a baking sheet leaving 2-3 inches gap between them. Flatten them slightly using your fingers or with the tines of a fork for a more decorative finish.

Bake in a 375F oven for about 8-10 minutes until the edges are browned. Allow to cool in the baking sheet for 8-10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

You can store in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy the peanut butter goodness for at least a week. Pack a few for the little kid that makes your day with her smile.