That’s better than any Black Friday deal.
If you’re typically plagued by cookies that spread, or bake thin and flat, there’s no chance of that here. They’re baked in a muffin pan, and they have no where to go but up.
The outer peanut butter cookie layer is made with Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Creamy Peanut Butter. I love baking with honey roasted peanut butter because it adds an extra layer of flavor and sweetness. And I’m all about the sweetness.
The cookies are stuffed with Skippy Natural Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread. For those wondering if it’s like Nutella, no, it’s not. It’s much thicker and it doesn’t have any hazelnut flavor. It’s what you’d get if you infused peanut butter with dark chocolate. It’s much less sweet than Nutella and has 60% less sugar. Although it’s a ‘natural’ spread, it’s no-stir and there’s no oil slick floating to the top of the jar with dry crumbly bits below, a problem that happens often with ‘natural’ peanut butters, but not this one. Whew.
The recipe for the peanut butter cookie dough is very similar to the Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies in my cookbook, Peanut Butter Comfort. I love those cookies and these are a hybrid of that recipe and Reese’s Pieces Soft Peanut Butter Cookies. You don’t have to chill the cookie dough before baking, which is a nice time saver, but I strongly recommend putting the Dark Chocolate PB in the freezer for a few hours. When frozen, it scoops out like mini scoops of ice cream and it’s much easier to work with. If it’s soft at room temperature, it’s a really messy job. So freeze it for your sanity and ease.
After making the peanut butter cookie dough, form it into 12 golf ball-sized mounds. They’ll look pretty enormous, but the dough is very soft and surprisingly lightweight for its size. Scoop out rounded teaspoons of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and place one scoop in the center of each dough mound. Finesse the sides of the dough up and around the chocolate ball. Take your time and make sure the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter is fully encased so it doesn’t leak while baking.
I’m sure I’ll be asked for substitutions if you can’t find the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. You can likely stir in melted chocolate, with some cocoa powder, into regular peanut butter until you get the appropriate consistency, but I haven’t tried this. You can also just stuff them with regular peanut butter and a few chocolate chips. Place the stuffed mounds into a muffin pan and bake until the tops are domed and set, and are slightly firm to the touch. Testing with a toothpick is a futile job because you’ll hit melted chocolate. Oh darn. Even if they look underdone, that’s okay because they firm up as they cool.
Don’t be surprised if the tops fall a bit while the cookies cool. The rich cookie dough is just settling down into the squishy, chocolate peanut butter layer. After cutting into these oozing beauties you can see how soft, squishy, and melty they interiors are.
I baked all 12 at once, but if you don’t need a dozen of these tempting double-peanut butter treats around at once, you can keep the stuffed dough mounds in the fridge for up to 5 days before baking, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, and bake just what you need because fresh, warm cookies are always best. The cookies are plush, soft, and thick enough that you can literally sink your teeth into them for big, rich, satisfying bites.
They’re soft with slightly chewy edges, they’re buttery and moist, and are more rich than they are overly sweet. The peanut butter intensity is strong and robust. You know you’re eating peanut butter cookies. Nothing wimpy or lackluster about the peanut butter flavor, which is to be expected when using two types.
Chocolate and peanut butter are made for each other. And who can say no to peanut butter and chocolate and warm cookies. I can’t.
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This post has been brought to you by Skippy Brand Peanut Butter. Recipe and all opinions are my own. What’s your favorite kind of peanut butter or peanut butter cookie?
