I've put some weird things in peanut butter cookies, but it never occurred to me to to add sriracha sauce. With its robust peppery flavor and a hint of garlic, why would I put it in sweets? But then along came the Sriracha Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Red Hot Sriracha: 50 Recipes that Will Kick Your Ass!
Easy to Work With Dough
Aside from the sriracha, the peanut butter cookie dough was pretty standard and included a lot of peanut butter. Bonus points for that! I hate it when peanut butter cookies don't have enough peanut flavor. More bonus points for the fact each ingredient includes a weight. I didn't have to play guessing games on the true amount of flour, so my dough wasn't too dry or too wet. It had a pleasantly fluffy texture, was easy to work with, and the cookies baked up into a perfect medium thickness and with rounded sides.
Sriracha Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Flavor
As for flavor, they were peanut buttery-y and hot! I'd used a newly opened bottle of sriracha and definitely felt the kick. The garlic flavor was also quite prominent, which made for a very interesting cookie. I love Chipotle Peanut Butter Cookies and have even enjoyed peanut butter cookies with ketchup. However, this sriracha addition is different. It's going to be fun serving these and gathering opinions. Speaking of which, here's my opinion on the book: I think you should buy it!
Why Buy The Book?
Fun "party cookies" aside, this book is a serious collection of good, solid recipes. The author, Melissa Petitto, is a professional chef who develops very approachable, tempting recipes. At one point, she worked in the Cooking Light Magazine test kitchen, and her style of recipes reminds me of Cooking Light's style, but without the sugar and fat restrictions. Nothing in the book seems overly fussy, and from the 50 total, I have already bookmarked about 20. A few titles include the Sriracha Chickpea Salad, Fiery Glazed Nuts, Cracklin’ Candy Bacon and Black Bean Hummus with Five Spice Pita Chips and “Cin” City Spaghetti – a Cincinnati style chili with cinnamon and Sriracha. I also want to try the Smokin' Sweet Corn Salsa and definitely the Salted Honey-Lime Popcorn. And those are just a few. There are seafood recipes, ribs, burgers, and a selection of sriracha laced drinks. And in addition to all the great recipes, there's a full color picture of each one.
To sum it up, this book is worth adding to your collection and would be a perfect gift for the fiery foods fanatics in your life. As for the cookies, you'll have to try them and let me know what you think. I really enjoyed the texture of the cookies and might try using ¼ cup of some other slightly acidic liquid just to play with the flavors -- maybe a teaspoon of molasses mixed with water?
Recipe
Sriracha Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks) (225g/8oz)
- 1 ½ cups crunchy peanut butter (400 grams)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed (200 grams)
- ¼ cup Sriracha
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (255 grams)
- 1 cup turbinado sugar (200 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Line two large baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the Sriracha, eggs, and vanilla and blend for 1 minute, or until well incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix for 1 to 2 minutes on medium speed until well blended. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Place the turbinado sugar on a plate.
- Using a 1.-tablespoon scoop, scoop the dough into balls and then roll them in the sugar. Arrange the dough 2 inches (5cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets and continue with the remaining dough.
- Flatten the dough with a fork and make a crisscross pattern on each cookie.
Anna says
Pouncy, I tend to do the same thing. What did you think of the garlic in the sriracha? Could you taste it in the cookies?
Pouncy says
Friends and I made these last night and wound up determining that our preferred variation on these was to use a medium cookie scoop, not a small one, and to dip the bottoms in sugar but not roll the entire dough ball in the turbinado sugar.
Katrina says
What a fun cookie. Looks great. I'd love to just make it and not tell my family what's in it. I do worry a bit about the garlic, but it would sure be fun to try. I think I want the book. Going to go look at it. All my boys really like hot stuff.
Anna says
Maryann, thanks again for the review! I really did need a second opinion and am happy the cookies went over well at the fish fry. I sent you an email about the salt since I'm wondering what type you used -- actual sea salt or kosher. I forgot to mention that I used Morton kosher for the salt and didn't make any changes to the amount. I think if had used flaky sea salt, I would have increased it too.
Maryann Darr says
I saw this recipe in my e-mail. It totally fascinated me because of the sriracha! Let me say this..."I am not a person that is going to use Sriracha on everything, but I do love to flavor a Bloody Mary or mixed vegetable juice drink with it". My husband and I went to a Knights of Columbus Fish Fry in Eastland, Texas (Lent) last night. I made a double batch of these to take with me. They were a real hit! I definitely recommend in making these. I did have a slight change though (A VERY SLIGHT CHANGE.). I increased the salt yield to 1 Tablespoon for a double batch (that would be 1 1/2 teaspoons for a single batch). Why did I do this? I wanted these cookies to have a very slight sweet and savory flavor. I definitely achieved that quality with this change. You may ask? "Are the cookies hot"? "No"! Isn't that strange? They have a very unique taste. We absolutely loved them!
Shirley D says
These sound great, Anna. About a year ago I had a sriracha cookbook home from our public library and enjoyed it - and noted a few ideas from it. Don't remember if THIS was it .. or if there was/is another. Hope to try this someday ---maybe when all the kids will be here! Easter??? hah.
megan says
We love all things spicy, so I am very intrigued with the flavor of these.
The Cincinnati Chili sounds so good though..
Anna says
Sue, it's a really good one. Erin, you have to buy this book if your boyfriend loves Sriracha.
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
Ha oh my gosh my boyfriend would be all over there. He loves all things sriracha
Sue says
Great review of the cookbook!