I have been meaning to post this recipe forever, I just never had a good picture of the cookie. The recipe only makes 32 cookies, and around here 32 cookies lasts approx 32 seconds. My friend Josee made these for a Christmas Cookie Exchange two years ago (that’s how long I have wanted to post this recipe). I gave a dozen of these to a friend, Becky, for a “Craft it Forward” exchange and I promised the recipe to her ONE year ago. (Bad Polly, bad, bad, bad, bad.) But finally, I made a batch that didn’t get scarfed immediately. I made them for my Yoga Group, and they are too polite to eat a half dozen each at one sitting (but it could have been that I had them so busy bagging stuff for an upcoming fundraiser and they didn’t have any hands free to eat cookies!) They did sing praises for the cookies they did eat though and encouraged me to post the recipe ASAP.
Now getting back to the first time I encountered this cookie. It was my favorite cookie that year, maybe my favorite cookie in all the years of our exchange (of which there have only been three). Oddly enough, I made my cookie that year from same cookie magazine Josee used, and I never even considered making these! Even now, if I just looked at the recipe, I would not be inclined to make it. This is one cookie that tastes much, much better than it’s list of ingredients. It tastes much, much better than it looks, too and, no matter how good the picture looks above (do you like it? I got a new camera!), it still doesn’t do the cookie justice. Take a bite! There’s a layer of peanut butter inside! As one of my friends said, who shall remain nameless, “So how did you get the peanut butter IN there?”
So here it is, at long last, the recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (originally published as “Peanut Butter Munchies” in the Better Homes and Gardens “100 Best Cookies”, 2009).
One more note, I often loose track of how many balls I have, so now I line up a chocolate ball with a peanut butter ball before I start rolling. One time I ran out of peanut butter balls! I have no idea how that happened. So I just cracked open another bottle of wine and made another half batch of the peanut butter batter, and all was fine. Hic. (Just kidding. I don’t drink. Ever. Really!! No, REALLY, I don’t!!!)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
For Chocolate Cookie
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup butter (one stick, 4 oz), softened
- ¼ cup peanut butter (I always use creamy)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (I use light brown sugar)
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon of milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For Peanut Butter Filling
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
For Sparkle
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda and set aside.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer combine butter and peanut butter. Beat for a minute or so. Add in both sugars and beat for another minute or so. Beat in egg and milk.
- Slowly add the flour-cocoa powder mixture to the butter-peanut butter mixture and beat just until combined. Roll ball into a snake shape and refrigerate for a short while (to make it easier to handle) while you mix up the peanut butter filling.
- Beat peanut butter and powdered sugar together until well combined. Roll dough into 32 equal balls.
- Divide cookie dough into 32 equal portions.
- For each cookie, flatten a piece of chocolate dough and top with a peanut butter filling ball. Wrap Chocolate cookie dough around the peanut butter filling, making a ball in the process. Place balls on a cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.
- Rub a bit of leftover dough or a very slight bit of butter onto the bottom of a glass. Dip glass in sugar. Press cookies flat with sugar coated glass. (redip glass in sugar before pressing down on each ball).
- Bake cookies in preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, until the sides are just slightly cracked. Cool on cookie sheet for a minute or so and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Becky, I hope you are reading this…, I’m sorry that I took so long. Josee, thanks for introducing me to this excellent cookie! Everyone else, ENJOY! This is one great cookie!
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today, come back again soon! Now that I am learning how to master an SLR camera, I will probably be posting more frequently 🙂 I have a terrific parchment wrapped salmon recipe and a long time favorite gazpacho recipe just waiting in the wings!
LOVELY photo 🙂 And you can put that cookie on ‘The List’ for when I visit next!
I’m intrigued. Like you, this isn’t a cookie I would have thought about making without a resounding recommendation. But now….
I have not stopped craving these since you made them!
Yummy..thank you for posting! Bummer that I have to wait 3 weeks for a new kitchen.