Forbidden peanut butter crinkle cookies

From this book. Been in the family since it was published first in 1986. Lots of interesting and less-interesting things in here, and some very nice recipes for good traditional biscuits. There's one for bran and honey biscuits with a lemon icing... delicious.

Anyway, the recipe for peanut butter crinkle cookies always caught my eye, even as a seven-year-old, working out which recipes I could concievably make without having a parent hovering constantly and which didn't require too much oven use or risk of injury.

I was never allowed to make the peanut butter crinkle cookies, of course: they were far too decadent and they contained the forbidden ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, butter. (I should point out that we had neither salt, nor sugar regularly in the house until I was about thirteen. Never tasted a soft drink until then. Peanut butter was completely forbidden. Honey was OK sometimes. No sugar allowed, though. The upside was that I had perfect teeth until my first filling at the age of 25.)

But NOW, the time for forbidding is over! I can make whatever biscuits I like, ones that contain any ingredients under the sun, and damn the consequences!

The grated lemon rind in the mix is the best part of this recipe. They are crumbly and toothsome, like a good shortbread. Perfect for old-fashioned picnics.

Forbidden peanut butter crinkle cookies

• 125g unsalted butter


• half tsp vanilla extract


• grated rind 1 big lemon


• one third of a cup of sugar


• one third of a cup of light brown sugar


• half a cup of crunchy peanut butter


• one and a quarter cups plain flour


• 1 tsp bicarb


• pinch of salt

Cream the butter, sugars, vanilla, lemon rind and peanut butter together in electric mixer for about 3-4 minutes. Sift in the rest and use a wooden spoon to work them together into a stiff dough. Make small balls (a bit bigger than a macadamia nut) and put on baking trays lined with baking paper. Use a fork to make a crinkled crosshatch in the top, flattening as you do so. Bake in moderate oven 15 minutes. Cool them on the trays: don't remove till they firm up.