Peanut Butter and Chia Jam Cookie Cake

It was a Monday, but not an ordinary Monday.

I was slumped at my desk, working through piles of paperwork, we are a paperless office I’ll have you know, yet I appear to gather a small rain forest daily.

I digress.

As I typed I started to think about my food plan for the week, I like to enjoy a sweet treat every evening and I cannot shake my addiction to all things nutty. I’m being driven by an invisible force to seek out just the right balance of sweet and salty.

Then I thought of this recipe and I wondered ‘could I make a healthy version of this?’ and it all fell into place…

This recipe started in my mind as bar’s, then it switched to cookies and landed on a cookie cake.

You see, I like cake and I like cookies. I’d never had a cookie cake before, yet I was quite sure I would like it.

I had to be really sure though.

The faster I typed the more the thought’s flowed; I could make a simple chia jam and an oaty base (like hobnobs, I love hobnobs) and scatter crushed peanuts on top for that salty hit. The more I thought about it, the keener I became for 5pm when I could shake off my ‘Insurance Head’ and switch on my ‘I need to get home now and bake a peanut butter and jam cookie cake’ head.

“Peanut Butter & Chia Jam Cookie Cake” 

Ingredients

Chia Jam:

60g Berries

15g Chia

10g Honey

Cookie Base:

110g Oats

40g Peanut Butter

15g Agave (or honey or maple syrup)

10g Coconut oil (melted)

Peanut Topping:

55g Peanuts

15g Oats

10g Sweetener (I used xylitol)

Method 

To start, make your chia jam so it can be left to set whilst you are preparing and chilling the other part’s of the cookie cake.

In a small sauce pan add berries with agave and stir in the chia seeds until a jam forms (this should only take a few moments) then place in a heatproof container and place in the fridge.

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Now line a cookie/cake tin (I used a 6 inch tin) and process your oat’s into a fine flour, then add in the date, 2 tablespoons of water, coconut oil, peanut butter and agave. Once everything is added pulse until a well combined dough has formed.

Remove the dough and roll into a large cookie, then transfer this to your tin and press in with your fingers ensuring the dough reaches the edges with a even consistency.

Place in the freezer for 45 minutes.

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Weigh out 15g of peanuts and lightly crush with a rolling pin and set to one side.

Process the remaining peanuts, sweetener and oat’s until a flour forms and mix in the larger peanut pieces and set to one side.

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Once the base is solid, spread a even layer of the chia jam across the top and then spoon over the peanut flour topping and leave in the fridge to set for 15 minutes.

Pre: heat the oven to 180 degree’s and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the topping is golden (this will depend on your oven).

I sliced mine into 6 pieces whilst it was warm but left it in the tin for cool for 40 minutes – Please take care as hot jam will burn, no matter how tempting it looks.

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Tell me, are you a nut butter fan? (I may have asked this before?) surely a cake/cookie is a heavenly balance right? I’ve had a slice every day this week (the cookie/cake is best stored in the fridge) and it’s so darn good!

Katie

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