Chocolate, Peanut and Popcorn Cookies

Imagine all of your favourite cinema treats…then imagine them baked into one soft, gooey cookie.

Drooling? Yep me too. I’ll give you a minute.

This recipe came about due to having to clean out my cupboards before our next international move (why do we do this to ourselves?). There was some microwave popcorn in the cupboard that definitely wasn’t going to be “making the crossing” with us to the UK. But, being the thrifty person I am, I didn’t want to throw it away.

Then inspiration struck: what if I bake the popped corn into a chocolate chip cookie? Once that train of thought had departed the station, my mind went off on a tangent thinking of the endless other things I could bake in there too, except in the end I landed on peanuts – partly because, by a short miracle we actually also had some of those in the cupboard, too and partly because I love the chocolate + peanuts combo. 

The outcome was these chocolate, peanut and popcorn cookies, and I have to say that they were nothing short of sublime.

Scott even went so far as to say they were the best cookies he’d ever eaten in his life – high praise indeed from one half of a couple who eats our fair share of cookies. The chewiness of the popcorn coupled with the crunch of the nuts and the gooey-ness of the chocolate and cookie are a match made in heaven.

I’ll let you be the judge of whether they’re the best you’ve ever eaten in your life – maybe you could let me know after you’ve polished off your fifth in a row (not talking from experience here, honestly).

Chocolate, Peanut and Popcorn Cookies

Recipe by Julia

Servings

14

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened

• 1 cup (225g) sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups (156g) flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• Pinch salt

• 2 cups (12g) popped popcorn, lightly crushed

• 3 1/2 oz (100g) milk chocolate chips

• 1/4 cup (30g) unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with baking paper.
• In a large mixing bowl (or food processor), cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the egg and vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, then gradually add it a bit at a time to the creamed mixture, until everything is fully combined and a dough has formed.
• Stir in the popcorn, chocolate and peanuts.
• Roll the dough into golf ball-sized rounds (bigger than this will make around 12-14 big cookies, smaller will yield more like 20+) and place on the baking sheet, leaving at least 2″ in between to allow for spreading.
• Bake for around 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are golden but still gooey and a little wobbly in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully – or just gobble them up while still warm.