Man, I love the habanero peanut butter cookie recipe. I think this will be the first thing I will do when mine turn orange. I am still waiting on the harvest of habs to come my way. I couldn't help myself and picked a couple green ones today. Thanks for the great recipes.

Megachili, I find your habanero, peanut butter cookie intriquing and I'm going to try making the recipe. I'm not a knowledgeable cook nor a baker. I noticed soft butter is in the recipe but you didn't mention when that was added to the recipe. Can I assume it goes in with the initial ingredients that you listed? I know a guy who eats habs by themselves and I'm going to make it a scorching cookie for him.

Mudman, oops! It turns out there's a wrong word in the recipe; it should say "In a large bowl, cream together BUTTER, brown sugar, white sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Thus, as you suspected, it is included in the first step. Good luck!

yummo...your tapenade looks delicious. but i have to agree with everyone also those cookies peeked my interest. who would have thought.

have you tried or considered adding any good chocolate chips in the cookie recipe....seems like that might be another good ingredient.....thanks for all---bob

We are absolutely putting chocolate chips in the next batch of hab cookies, t-bob. We're working hard on the chinense-chocolate angle now, in fact. Last night, we made habanero dark chocolate fudge, which came out well but needs further tweaking. We have two dozen fataliis marching toward ripeness on the plant right now, and our thinking is to use orange habs as "stand ins" to test the recipe, but with the final goal being fatalii orange dark chocolate fudge in a couple weeks when we have ripe fataliis to work with. More to come on that....

Megachili- This is my version of the Habanero Peanut Butter cookies. I took the recipe out of my America's Secret Recipes 1 for Mrs. Fields Peanut Butter Cookies and added 2 minced orange habs and 2 minced red habs. Boy are they hot! My husband and I tried one each before dinner and now we have decided we need to eat one with a tall glass of milk. I can't believe you ate all of the cookies in one night. I guess next recipe will only have 3 habs instead of 4:)

Thank you for the inspiration:)

Dusty

The Florida Heat must produce Hotter Habs because we are certainly not wimps as I took out all of the seeds and it they are still extremely hot.....can't wait to share them with the folks at work:)

Dusty

Megachili, went to bed last night thinking about your hab, peanut butter cookies. Got up this morning went to Trader Joe's and bought the things I needed. No peanut butter chips so I substituted chocolate chips. Used my own habs, 4 medium sized with seeds and ribs included. Never baked before so I surprised myself. They turned out very well. Not as hot as I thought they would be. They had heat as you swallowed the cookie. The heat did not last very long. Certainly didn't take milk to enjoy them. Would more habs make them hotter. Like I said last night they're really not for me, but a friend who likes hot food. I will take them to work tomorrow and let him try them. Wish I had some Bhut's. Thanks for the recipe.

Dusty: niiiiiice work on them hab cookies! They look a little more polished than our rustic batch, but with the same cool little orange hab pieces sticking out of the top and sides!

mudman: you'll definitely get more heat if you put in more habs. It's hard to say why your cookies aren't very hot. Could be the habs (mild plant, or hot plant but a mild batch of habs after a rainstorm - mine do that), or the mix of ingredients, or your heat tolerance, etc. I've found it's just kind of a crap shoot. That's why I usually just put 5 habs, 3 with seeds/ribs removed, into almost any mid-sized recipe like these cookies - there's a randomness factor involved with the heat, so I figure that quantity provides an average, everyday hot-but-tolerable heat level that can then be tweaked as needed. The butter and sugar in this recipe definitely absorbs and disperses some of the heat, but still, it shouldn't be mild with 4 habs w/ seeds and ribs. Maybe try 5 or 6 next time. I should note that the tapenade has a higher perceived heat level than the cookies, so if you're trying to make something brutal and cruel, that might be something else to try ;) Also, have you tried a raw hab off your plant to verify the heat level? Sometimes they come off the plant milder, due to weather. good luck!

Imitation is the most kindest and sincere form of flattery. I am glad you liked the look of my cookies Megachili, thank you again for inspiring me:):) You are spot on the heat of the habaneros.....some are definitely hotter than the others.

Dusty

Megachili, thank you for responding to my post from yesterday. I believe my cookies were hot enough, the people I gave them to say they could certainly detect the heat. The peppers I used were defined as hotties from the nursery. They're a large hab without the pungent taste. I sampled the cookie and felt the heat. I wouldn't eat a hab right off the plant. In a Thai dish, spice beyond medium would interupt the enjoyment of the dish. I basically grow them so others can eat them. I've given habs away this year and the people said they were hot. I'm amazed at people who are capable of eating a medium sized hab and not making comment about the heat. A friend of mine does that and I was trying to make them hot enough to hear him squawk about how hot they were. He spent the day, nonchalantly eating about 10 large cookies I gave him this morning at work. If I could buy some Bhuts I would use your recipe and give them to him. In your post you mention tapenade, I'm assuming that's a pepper. In terms of scoville heat units, how does it stack up against the habs. I live in Portland and have not heard of tapenade.

Megachili, after posting last night, as I scrolled down the page I realized that your recipe for tapenade was in front of my eyes. Please forgive my lack of knowledge regarding this. I'm sure I looked foolish on last nights post. I'm going to make the tapenade recipe and give it to my friend. More habs this time.

mduman, haha I was wondering if perhaps they didn't have tapenade out there in Portland. It's usually Olive Tapenade, made with green or black olives (or both). It's used as a spread on bread, appetizers, cheese, etc. A French thing. There's actually no such thing as pepper tapenade; I think it's always olives. We just made it up! The recipe above is hot - much hotter than the cookies even with the same # of habs.

Well the fact that you're using Hotties and not habs definitely explains the mildness. I've heard those Hotties are very low pungency. I'm going to grow a few next year - I like the idea of a less pungent hab that has the unique flavor but is a bit easier on the mouth. Would you say it has no heat, a little mild heat, or is it hot but just not habanero hot, like a jalapeno or something?

Megachili, you asked about the heat level in the hotties, reluctantly I sampled one. I cut a sliver off of one and ate it. They are hot, burned my tongue, lips and nose. The heat lasted for about 5 minutes. They smell hot and look out. When I made the cookies I used my food processor to mince the habs, I washed it thoroughly, I used it again this afternoon and could smell the oil from the habs etched into the mixing bowl. It is not a pleasant aroma, to me. My favorite pepper is roasted Poblamo's. Minor heat and tasty.

Thanks for the link pointing to this thread, megachili! And thanks for the recipes!

Yea, I soooo gotta make some of that chutney this year! :)