Peanut Butter and Red Bean Cookies

the nostalgic cookie I didn't know I needed

Never have I ever seen or tasted a peanut butter and red bean cookie before, but the idea came to me one night and the moment I took the very first bite I was instantly flooded with nostalgia. It reminded me of decadent peanut butter cookies from friends’ houses growing up and school bake sales but at the same time the few sweets I enjoyed at my grandparents like flaky Chinese peanut candies and red bean mooncakes. I like to imagine that if my peanut and sweets loving Goong Goong were still around, he would have loved a fresh baked tray of these.

I can’t really explain how these flavor combinations come to me. Sometimes I can’t sleep and my mind wonders so sometimes I type into my psychotic recipe file on my Notes app: bake a cookie; red beans and peanut butter would be good. I was right though, red beans and peanut butter are in fact very delicious together. Red Bean Paste is one of my favorite flavors, celebrated in the world of Asian baking and desserts but truly underutilized in the overall scope of baking. When people ask me what red bean paste tastes like I generally compare it to peanut butter because it’s not very “beany” if that’s a real adjective, I more so think of it’s nuttiness and creamy richness. Still, red bean paste has it’s own distinct flavor and you should give it a try on its own sometime.

Without the red bean paste, this recipe makes a really really excellent peanut butter cookie. One that is big and craggily with a crispy edge and fudge-y soft center. It’s not too sweet, leaning slightly on the savory side which I very much enjoy. I like to add some sesame oil (another ingredient that I think is underutilized in baking) to amp up the nuttiness of the peanut butter. But once you add the red bean paste (store bought is fine! Order it or visit your local Asian market) it takes the cookies to another dimension, a dimension where school bake sales and mooncakes coexist. In the recipe I share a quick little trick to make sure the red bean paste makes an impactful appearance in each cookie, but it’s totally optional. And one more important feature of these cookies is the fact that they don’t require chilling before baking. I don’t know why but I have very little patience for chilling dough, if a recipe calls for a 24 hour rest time I can’t do it. For me it’s 1 hour max, but a no chill cookie dough is up my alley.

These cookies are simply special, where the flavors make each other better, and they call for a big glass of cold milk! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Red Bean Cookies

makes 12 large cookies