Senegal: Cinq Centimes

Cinq centimes, or five cent cookies, are popular peanut cookies sold in Senegalese markets. They are named so because they were originally small in size just like French coins (centimes).

There aren’t that many recipes to be found on the interweb for cinq centimes cookies. Those that are, are written by non-Senegalese and simply tell you to buy sugar cookies and cover them in peanut butter. My Sunday Bake Day challenge is all about trying international desserts recipes, I therefore decided to come up with my own recipe based on what little information was available about these cookies.

There are two common facts that all food bloggers agreed upon. Cinq centimes are butter (or sugar) cookies topped with peanut butter and peanuts. The only Senegalese blog that I could find that made reference to these cookies, agree that these were butter cookies topped with peanut butter but said that it was chopped peanuts sprinkled on top not artistically arranged as the food bloggers led us to believe.

As Senegal was once a French colony and the biscuits were made in homage to French coins, it was a no brainer to use a French butter biscuit recipe. As for the peanut element of the recipe, it’s honestly a personal preference. I tried both natural and ‘processed’ peanut butter. The natural peanut butter was a bit runny which the peanuts easily stuck to, but it risked turning the cookies into a drippy messy eat. However, I felt that natural peanut butter would be closer to what is used in Senegal therefore is my preference for this recipe. The bonus being it looked insta-fabulous in the photo. The ‘processed’ peanut butter, while thicker, spread smoothly but the peanuts didn’t really stick unless you press them down.

All in all, it’s a quick and easy recipe to make. Something tasty to whip up during a boring winter lockdown Sunday.

Cinq Centimes (Five Cent Cookies)

Ingredients (makes approx 25-30 cookies, depending on the size)

• 1 medium egg
• 120g granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essense
• 250g plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter, cubed
• Peanut butter, preferably smooth
• Peanuts, roughly chopped

1. Add the egg, sugar, vanilla, along with a pinch of salt into a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until pale.
2. Add the flour and mix in with your fingers until the dough looks like sand.
3. Add butter and knead in well to form a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour.
4. Form the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
6. Sprinkle the counter top with flour and roll the dough until as thin and as thick you want your cookies.
7. Cut out the cookies with a round cookie cutter, to whatever size you want.
8. Bake in the oven (on an oven tray) for 15-20 minutes.
9. Once fully cooled, spread the cookies with peanut butter and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.

Happy baking!

L x👣