Saturday, January 19, 2013

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies - made January 12, 2012, recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust
One of the blogs I like to follow is Dorothy's Crazy for Crust blog.  Partly because I think she and I share the same taste buds and like a lot of the same sweets.  And partly because she always seems to put yummy stuff on her blog.  And despite my indifference to peanut butter, I like making peanut butter cookies for no other reason than I like using a meat mallet to make the cute little indentations in the cookie rather than using a fork to make the traditional cross hatches. I got the meat mallet idea from my friend Annie the Baker.  Annie was one of my CIA classmates and after culinary school, she did the pastry chef thing for a few years then started her cookie business.  Every time I go to her website, I crave cookies because hers look so good (I dare you not to get hit with the same craving when you look at her chubby cookies in all flavors).  When I came across this recipe from Crazy for Crust, I had to make it with the meat mallet impressions ala Annie the Baker but instead of rolos, I stuffed each cookie with a peanut butter cup.
I was really pleased with how this turned out because the cookies stayed thick and didn't spread too much so I could keep the little indentations, the better to hold sprinkles of sugar before baking.  While I never eat peanut butter cups by themselves, they made a nice addition to the cookie.  You can also stuff it with Rolos like Dorothy did or a piece of Snickers bar or a small handful of chocolate chips and/or peanut butter chips.  The sky's the limit.  Oh, and in case you want to be prepared, January 24 is National Peanut Butter Day.  That's as good an excuse as any to make these cookies.

½ cup softened butter
¾ cup peanut butter 
1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
About 24-30 peanut butter cups, unwrapped
  1. Preheat oven to 350° (unless you're freezing the dough first). Line cookie sheets with parchment.
  2. Mix butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla with a stand or hand-held mixer until just blended. Add egg and beat until incorporated.
  3. Whisk baking soda and flour in a medium bowl. Add to wet ingredients and mix just until blended.
  4. Scoop 2 tablespoon sized balls of dough. Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each and roll so that the peanut butter cup is in the center of the dough and does not show. Place 2” apart on baking sheet. Use the pointy side of a meat mallet to make the pattern on each cookie (dip the mallet in granulated sugar to help prevent dough sticking to it).  You can freeze cookies in freezer bags at this point to bake for later.
  5. When ready to bake, sprinkle tops lightly with granulated sugar and bake in preheated 350-degree oven about 8-9 minutes just until set. Bottoms will slightly brown and centers may still look a little under baked. Let cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

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