CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MAGIC IN THE MIDDLES – baked into the middles! Magic in the middles.
The cookies are slightly crunchy and kind of chewy with soft, sweet peanut butter centers.
Like peanut butter cups in cookie form.
The chocolate and peanut butter is well-balanced and they are the kind of cookies you want to eat with a glass of milk. True to its form the peanut butter will stick to the roof of your mouth.
They have crackly outsides from being rolled in sugar. If you like the sweet and salty combination in your desserts a sprinkle of coarse salt on the tops is nothing short of heavenly.
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The cookies are slightly tedious but easy to make and so worth it. First you roll sweetened peanut butter into balls. Twenty-six of them. That doesn’t sound like a lot but they’re pretty hefty cookies.
While the peanut butter balls firm up in the refrigerator you work on the cookie dough. It’s thick and pliable making it easy to stick the peanut butter in the center and surround it with dough. Even if some of the peanut butter peeks out they bake up fine.
The original King Arthur recipe (who, I might add, are geniuses) didn’t call for chilling the peanut butter balls but I found it a lot easier to mold the chocolate dough around them. The peanut butter is far too squishy at room temperature.
The cookies get even better as they age. If they have time to age.Fresh from the oven while the peanut butter is still warm they’re nothing short of divine but the next day when they’ve softened up and the flavors have intensified it’s like rediscovering them all over again.
Like a potato chip bet you can’t eat just one!
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MAGIC IN THE MIDDLES
Ingredients
- Filling:
- 3/4 cup peanut butter crunchy or smooth
- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- Cookies:
- 1 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder unsweetened baking cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus extra for dredging
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 - 2 tablespoons milk if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
- Make the filling by combining the peanut butter and confectioners' together in a small bowl with a fork. Scoop up level teaspoons and with floured hands roll into 26 balls. Place on a tray, large dish or baking sheet and refrigerate.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together.
- In a separate medium-sized mixing bowl beat together both sugars, the butter and peanut butter about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla and egg then stir in the dry ingredients by hand blending well.
- To make the cookies scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough, make an indentation in the center with your finger and place one of the peanut butter balls in it. Bring the cookie dough up and over the filling pressing the edges together to cover the peanut butter. Roll the cookie gently in the palms of your hand to smooth it out. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. (If your cookie dough cracks and/or seems too dry mix 1-2 tablespoons milk into it by hand).
- Roll each rounded cookie in granulated, sparkling or sanding sugar. Leave 2 inches between them on the cookie sheets. Grease the bottom of a drinking glass and flatten each cookie to about 1/2-inch thick.
- Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in a tightly covered container up to 5 days.