Spider Peanut Cookies By Kirsten Tibballs

Spider Peanut Cookies

By Kirsten Tibballs 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes: 30-35 cookies

240g unsalted butter

80g caster sugar

300g brown sugar

2 whole eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

130 crunchy peanut butter

400g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

200 Callebaut milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Mix the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the butter is fully incorporated. Add the eggs, vanilla and peanut butter and continue mixing. Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Add the sieved dry ingredients to the mixture and lastly add the chopped chocolate chips. Remove from the stand mixer.

For each cookie, weigh out 40g of the dough and roll into balls. Place each ball onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving space between each cookie to allow for spreading. Lightly press down on each ball. Bake at 170 ˚Cfor 10 minutes. 

Remove the cookies from the oven and using a teaspoon, make a small dent in the middle of each cookie while they’re still warm. This will allow the spider to sit on top of the cookie. Cool the cookies at room temperature.

About Kirsten

Kirsten Tibballs, proclaimed by MasterChef Australia as ‘the Queen of Chocolate’, is one of Australia’s most celebrated and internationally respected pastry chefs and chocolatiers.

As the sole ambassador in Australia for leading chocolate manufacturer, Callebaut, Kirsten regularly travels throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific demonstrating her craft in chocolate and patisserie.

Kirsten represented Australia at the World Pastry Team Championships in Las Vegas, USA, where she was recognised as the best in the world for her handmade chocolates. Kirsten has also won a Gold and Bronze medal for her patisserie and chocolate artistry in the Pastry Olympics in Germany.

As a testament to her skills, Kirsten was given the honour of judging the World Chocolate Masters in Paris, The Patisserie Grand Prix in Japan and The World Chocolate Masters selections in London.

Kirsten’s talents extend beyond the kitchen and her first self-published cookbook, Chocolate to Savour, won the award for Best Photography from Gourmand in the UK.

She regularly contributes recipes and articles to a number of the world’s leading pastry publications including So Good... Magazine, Pastry and Baking North America, Pastry and Baking Asia Pacific, Baking Business and Australasian Baker.

Kirsten makes regular television appearances, including Everyday Gourmet with Justine Schofield, and has presented numerous chocolate challenges on MasterChef Australia to test and inspire the contestants. She most recently appeared in the 2017 MasterChef Australia Grand Finale, presenting the final challenge for the season.

With a desire to pass on her knowledge to other passionate food lovers and professional chefs, Kirsten established Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in 2002 in Brunswick, Melbourne. Savour strives to create an opportunity for students to learn from and work alongside their world-renowned chefs. Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School boasts a state of the art kitchen and hosts a number of renowned international chefs each year. Savour is currently the only cooking school in Australia that is solely dedicated to teaching the art of chocolate and patisserie, with many of the school’s students continuing on to open their own boutique chocolate shops and patisseries around the world.

 Kirsten’s new book Chocolate has just been released through Murdoch Books and features over 80 recipes from easy biscuits to elegant cakes.