Amazing Peanut-Buttery Cookies

With all the crazy snow that’s been flying outside, baking has been a necessity to take the nip out of the air.  I was flipping through some of my old Christmas Cookie magazines when this peanut butter cookie caught my eye.  Peanut butter is one of those things I really have to be in the mood for.  Generally, if I had to choose between peanut butter and chocolate, chocolate wins every time.  This cookie, though, combines the best of both worlds.

Once baked up, this recipe yielded a soft, chocolatey cookie with a lip-smacking peanut butter center.  The whole family has devoured these cookies in no time at all.  That doesn’t happen very often.  I made two small changes to the recipe- one being that I used Special Dark cocoa instead of plain.  The only reason for that being that I was out of regular cocoa, so the Special Dark filled in.  The cookie is delicious with the dark cocoa, and I won’t hesitate to use it again for this particular cookie.  The second change I made was to use turbinado sugar to sprinkle at the end instead of plain old granulated.  Turbinado is a much coarser, larger sugar crystal, which gives the finished cookie a great appearance.

These cookies may just make the cut as a holiday cookie- but even if they don’t, they’re definitely tasty enough to make more than once a year, and while the method may sound tedious at first, it really isn’t.  The cookies came together quickly, and were so worth any effort put forth.

Peanut Butter Munchies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa and baking soda.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup peanut butter together.  Add the egg, milk and vanilla and beat well.  Add the flour mixture and mix it in with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Form the chocolate dough into 32 1 1/4-inch balls and set aside.

For the filling, combine the powdered sugar and 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth.  Shape this mixture into 32 balls.

On a work surface, slightly flatten each chocolate ball.  Top with a peanut butter ball and then shape the chocolate dough around the peanut butter ball.  Make sure the filling is completely covered.  Roll into a ball.

Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in granulated sugar.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or just until set and surface slightly cracks.  Let stand on the baking sheet for 1 minute before moving to a wire rack.  Cool completely.  Makes 32 cookies.