Man, I love these cookies. The recipe is adapted from one in a cookie magazine that my roommate had–these won an award at a fair. They do take quite a bit of time, but they’re always delicious and impressive. The original name was “Peanut Butter Munchies”–but I never liked the name, and people always wonder how the peanut butter got in the middle. Haha. The answer is forming the chocolate dough around a peanut butter ball, then pressing them flat with a glass dipped in sugar. FYI, the dough does have peanut butter in it–I’ve considered making it straight chocolate like with the Black Cat Cookie dough then filling with peanut butter, but I haven’t yet.
I haven’t tried making this gluten free yet, but I’ll definitely use cup for cup flour and let you know how it goes. And make sure your peanut butter and powdered sugar are new or dedicated gluten free.
Peanut Butter Magic Middles
Soft chocolatey cookies with a peanut butter filling. Delicious but time-consuming.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 ½ c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum, plus a few tablespoons extra)
- ½ c. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ½ tsp. Baking Soda
- ½ c. Butter, softened
- ½ c. Sugar
- ½ c. packed Brown Sugar
- ¼ c. Peanut Butter (new or dedicated GF jar)
- 1 Egg
- 1 tbsp. Milk
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
Filling
- ½ c. sifted Powdered Sugar
- ½ c. Peanut Butter (new or dedicated GF jar)
- (2 Tbsp. Sugar for dipping glass)
Directions
Preheat to 350°. In medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in flour mixture. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1 ¼“ in diameter. Set aside.
For filling, combine powdered sugar and peanut butter until smooth. (Add more peanut butter if it’s too dry.) Shape mixture into 32 (3/4”) balls. Slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball; top with peanut butter ball. For each cookie, shape chocolate dough over filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Place balls 2” apart on cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the 2 Tbsp. sugar. Bake for 8 minutes or until just set and surface slightly cracks. Let stand 1 minute. Transfer to wire racks; cool.
Mitchell Meals 