Super Simple Peanut Butter and Sriracha Cookies [The Veggie-Lover's Sriracha Cookbook]

Like the section on drinks, I knew I had to give the dessert section of the Veggie-Lover's Sriracha Cookbook a go. The idea of peanut butter and Sriracha doesn't seem to be as off-the-wall as you'd think - the combination of peanuts and chilies is pretty common in a lot of Asian cuisines. However, it's not incorporating the spice that's the problem here, it's incorporating the vegan-ness (or the fact that this recipe is mainly just peanut butter on a tray).

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 cup natural creamy peanut butter (I had to make a mandatory substitution of "unnatural" peanut butter - I don't really like peanut butter so I needed to get rid of this jar)
• 1/3 cup Grade B maple syrup (that's "Canada No. 2" in Canada)
• 2 tbsp Sriracha
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

"Mucilaginous" is an amazing, if gross, word

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. In a small bowl, mix the flaxseeds and water until they mucilaginate and turn into a goopy gel after a few minutes.

2. Mix the flaxseeds and their goo with the peanut butter, maple syrup, Sriracha, salt, baking powder and soda. The dough needs a vigorous stirring to come together, and it's going to be a lot stickier than normal cookie dough.

3. Put heaping tablespoons of the dough and put them on a prepared baking sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then let cool on the pan for 15 minutes (they have a weird foamy consistency right out of the oven). Cool further on a wire rack.

The Outcome:

Sad to say but the consistency just doesn't work. When they came out of the oven, they were a weird foamy texture that only somewhat firmed up after the cooling. The flaxseeds didn't seem to do much, I'm guessing they were meant as a flour substitute, but these really had the texture of warmed peanut butter. To be fair, that's basically what these cookies are - they also seriously stick to the roof of your mouth and fall apart if you try to lift them. The spice is nice and does go well with the peanut butter and maple syrup, but I think someone with a bit of time and dedication could fix this recipe and still keep it vegan - add some flour, amplify the amount of flaxseeds, or bake them for longer? Or just say sod it and add Sriracha to a peanut butter cookie recipe?