Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies
I found this recipe on The Adventures of SuperWife (which is a great blog and you should all read it) and she got it from somewhere else from somewhere else and so on. These cookies were really yummy. SuperWife used a vegan recipe, and while I’m all for veganism, I did not have the vegan ingredients on hand, so I substituted regular ingredients (margarine and eggs instead of Earth Balance and egg substitute). Shame on me, I know. But I had such a hankerin’ for these cookies the moment I saw them, I had to make them right away and a trip to the store was NOT in the cards!
As you may have deduced, I love chocolate and I love peanut butter, and I really love chocolate and peanut butter together. Thus, these cookies are a godsend!
Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies
Cookie Dough:
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Eggs or egg replacer equal to two eggs
Cookie Filling:
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 confectioners sugar
In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda; blend well.
In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, margarine, and 1/4 cup peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs; beat well.
Stir in flour mixture until blended and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine filling ingredients and blend well. Roll into one-inch balls.
NOTE: As you can see below, my peanut butter filling turned out rather crumbly. I don’t know whether it was because I was using reduced-fat peanut butter or if it was the fault of my mixer—you’d probably be better off just using a wooden spoon and your hands to mix. Even though mine came out crumbly, it came together really nicely in ball form. Didn’t spread at ALL in the oven though, which is a shame but doesn’t harm anything except the appearance of the cookies.
For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoon cookie dough around one peanut butter ball, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Try to flatten each cookie slightly with the flat bottom of a glass, but not too much! Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until set and slightly cracked. Cool on wire racks.
For aesthetic purposes, my hand is not floured in this photo. Immediately after I felt how sticky the dough was, though, I dunked my hand in a bag o’ flour. Without it, I would have made SUCH a mess. As you’ll see below, some of your cookies may get a floury appearance. That is just fine, and it won’t show after you bake them!
I had enough peanut butter filling for 16 cookies, and enough chocolate batter for about 18. I was pretty generous with the chocolate batter around each peanut butter ball, and pretty stingy with the peanut butter balls themselves, too. Next time I make these I might make about 1/4 cup more peanut butter filling. I made 16 fairly big cookies.
Warning: You WILL need a glass of milk with these.
