Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Recently I've noticed (and have partaken in) a lot of posts and Pinterest links comparing food to crack. My last post was about how peanut butter is my crack. The dip I'm making for this weekend is called "apple crack dip". Now I'm no Walter White, my understanding of crack is mostly that it's whack, but I can understand and appreciate how people are finally talking about food addiction like it's no joke! I'm not a drug addict, but I can secretly eat Wheat Thins like it's an obsession. One of my best buds has had a Cheez-It overdose, literally throwing up Cheez-Its. Is it pretty? No. Is it like being addicted to crack? Yeah, probably not. But for us white bread folks who get spooked by needles and pass out when we see blood, it's close enough.


Let me just clear the air here and say that I've never free based peanut butter. Have I ever thought about free basing chicken nuggets? Perhaps.

Now that we've gotten that off of our collective chests, let's talk about this week's recipe. With this cookie we're heading back into familiar peanut butter territory. A chocolate peanut butter cookie is an amazing base, but inside the cookie there is more peanut butter. More peanut butter! Ah!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies
From: Big Flavors from A Tiny Kitchen

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar  (and more for rolling the cookies later)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter (you'll use it in 2 parts)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Use parchment paper if you have it.

2. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together.

3. In a mixer, blend the sugars, butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg, and beat until combined. Stir in the flour mixture and combine well.

4. In another bowl, blend the powdered sugar and remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter together until smooth to create the filling.

5. To lay out the cookies, flatten a tablespoon of dough with your hands. Take about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and place it in the center of the dough. Wrap the chocolate dough edges up around the peanut butter ball and roll the cookie in your hands to completely envelop the peanut butter. Roll the cookie in sugar. Place cookies on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart and flatten each cookie using the bottom of a glass. The cookies should be able 1/2 inch thick.

6. Bake in the oven for 7-9 minutes (I had good luck baking at 8 minutes). Keep on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and move to a cooling wrack.

If you follow the directions properly, your cookies will come out thicker/puffier than mine. I added some ingredients a little late when I made these, so they came out flatter than expected. Still delicious though!

Trust me when I say that these cookies are incredibly easy, but a little time consuming to make. I've made these twice in the past few weeks and have messed them up both times - yet they still taste amazing. So bonus points for being indestructible.

On a side note, if any of you have any other recipes with crack in the title, care to share? I'll be posting that apple dip next!


Source: Big Flavors from A Tiny Kitchen
Link: http://bigflavors.blogspot.ca/2010/12/supper-club-chocolate-peanut-butter.html

Posted in: Cheez-It,Chicken Nuggets,Chocolate,Chocolate Cookie,Cookie,Crack,Drugs,Peanut Butter