:: Day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas Goodies 2010 ::
Chocolate and peanut butter are a classic combination. What I love about these cookies is that they look like just simple chocolate cookies, but when you bite into them you find a yummy peanut butter surprise!
First, gather around your ingredients.
In the mixer, first you will beat together the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until it’s nice and smooth.
Next, add in the milk, egg, and vanilla. Make sure to mix it up really well. The batter will be really smooth at this point.
The last things to mix in will be the flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder. The batter will become pretty stiff and slightly crumbly at this point.
Set the chocolate dough aside and get the powdered sugar and peanut butter ready for the filling.
Put the peanut butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together.
The mixture will resemble small pebbles when it’s all mixed together.
Then, you’ll need to bring the mixture together with your hands. Knead it together into a flexible dough.
Now is the fun part! Divide both the chocolate and peanut butter doughs into 32 small balls. Since I’m a bit of a math nerd, I like to start with one and keep dividing each ball into two smaller ones until I have 32 pieces. I find this also helps keep the dough relatively the same size.
Next, you’ll start to make the cookies. Being by flattening a ball of chocolate dough.
Place a ball of peanut butter dough in the center.
Carefully form the chocolate dough around the peanut butter center. Try to keep the chocolate dough as even around the peanut butter center as possible.
Roll each cookie in sugar.
Place a few inches apart on a baking sheet. I find that baking these in two batches of 16 works well.
Take the flat bottom or a cup and lightly press down on the cookies to flatten slightly.
Bake for about 8 minutes. The cookies will stay puffy looking and be cracked slightly. Don’t overbake, as you don’t want them to dry out.
Let them cool on the baking sheet for about a minute or so, before moving them to cooling racks to cool completely. Or, enjoy one warm out of the oven, like I often choose to do!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Baking Magazine
Chocolate Dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Filling:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
Stir together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugars, and peanut butter. Beat until well mixed. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour mixture. Shape dough into 32 balls. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat together peanut butter and powdered sugar for filling until smooth. Knead by hand if needed to make a smooth dough. Shape dough into 32 balls.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slightly flatten a ball of chocolate dough. Place a ball of peanut butter filling in the center. Carefully form the chocolate dough around the filling. Roll into a ball where the chocolate dough completely covers the peanut butter filling and roll in white sugar. Place on an ungreased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Lightly flatten the dough. Bake about 8 minutes, or until set. Surface of cookies will be slightly cracked. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute before moving to wire racks to cool completely. After cooled, cookies may be frozen up to 3 months.
Makes 32 cookies.