Dark Chocolate and Peanut Cookies with smoked sea salt

A little background story. A few years ago I started a boiled peanut business called "Über Gübers".(to this day, I still get the occasional call for looking for an Uber ride) I did some cool chef inspired flavors like Beef Rosemary, Serrano Chili Lime, Jamaican Jerk, and many other flavored boiled peanuts. I sold at events and the weekly farmers market. At the farmers market there was a pie contest, so I course I decided to enter, and came up with a peanut pie with dark chocolate and salted caramel, and naturally called it "Über Güber Pie". Of course it won, then went on to win the state championship. I'll share the recipe and the press clippings soon in that post.

So what about the cookie? I was looking around at some Available ingredients and concocted this, inspired by the "Über Güber Pie". I'm a sucker for a fudgy, salty, sweet things, and this hit all those metrics, and quite well. Oh, and if you use gluten free baking flour, you won't miss out on anything but the gluten. Flaky sea salt works great, if you find smoked salt or smoke your own, even better

So, enough talk, here's the recipe.

Peanut and Dark Chocolate Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt

About 2 dozen

6 oz (1.5 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature

2 TB Peanut Butter

1c sugar

½ c Brown Sugar

½ tsp salt

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 C Cocoa Powder

1 C All Purpose Flour (1;1 Gluten free baking flour may be used)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 c dry roasted peanuts (look at the label, one brand has gelatin)

1 c dark chocolate chips

Flaky salt or smoked salt

Preheat oven to 350°

In a bowl add butter, peanut butter, and sugars, and mix with mixer (paddle if using a stand mixer) until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time while mixing

In a separate bowl add Cocoa, flour, salt, baking powder and whisk or soft together.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, while mixing until just combined (if using GF flour, you don't need to be as careful with overmixing, we're mostly concerned about over working the gluten in wheat flour that would end in a chewy cookie)

Add peanuts and chocolate chips and mix just until evenly combined.

I then portion into a 1.5-2 oz cookie. Using a scoop is my preferred method, but 2 spoons work great too. Smash lightly to make a puck type shape. For best results chill the dough at least an hour and up to 24. It's easiest if they're already shaped. I freeze them, bag them and they're ready to cook right out of the freezer.

Place on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet with 2-3" in between for expansion space, and sprinkles lightly with salt. Bake 11-12 minutes (9-10 convection). It should look dry on the outside and still slightly soft in the center. Cool at least 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!