XL Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Cookies from Crazy for Crust

XL Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Cookies - made dough August 2, 2024, modified slightly from Crazy for Crust 

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 1/2 cups (434 grams) all-purpose flour

1 package (about 1 2/3 cups) Reese's peanut butter chips

1 1/2 cups chopped peanuts, optional

Peanut butter cups for "stuffing"

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and no butter lumps remain, 2-3 minutes. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined.
2. Add eggs, vanilla and milk, mixing until just combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together salt, baking soda and flour. Add to butter mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Fold in peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts, mixing until evenly disbursed.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size or larger dough balls and flatten slightly to thick discs. Place a peanut butter cup on top of one disc. cover with a second disc and press the seams closed. Roll into a smooth ball to seal in peanut butter cup. Repeat with remaining discs. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space 5-6 dough discs. Bake 15-18 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

All right, peanut butter lovers, peanut butter cup lovers and lovers of all things peanut butter and chocolate, step on up. I should also add lovers of thick cookies that don't spread flat and lovers of stuffed cookies. This recipe has them all.

Dorothy Kern of Crazy for Crust has reliably solid-good recipes and this one is no exception. I had bought Reese's peanut butter cup (thins) for another recipe but decided to modify this recipe and use them for this one. I had also bought a Costco-sized package of Reese's peanut butter cup "medals", presumably overstock from the Olympics and they worked nicely as well.

The easiest way to "stuff" these cookie is to make 2 equal size balls, flatten slightly, put a peanut butter cup in the middle of one, place another flatten cookie disc on top of it, pinch the edges together and roll to form a smooth ball.

I like to chill the stuffed cookie dough balls first but this dough handled pretty well (wasn't too soft or sticky) so you may be able to skip some of the chilling time. I just prefer it for extra insurance that the cookies won't spread much.

As you can see from the pictures, these stayed nice and thick, somewhat but not quite hiding those lumpy middles that must have something in them, right? If you want more of a chocolate punch, add mini chocolate chips. I preferred to keep this more on the peanut butter side so I stuck with just the peanut butter cups. While I used smooth peanut butter in the dough, I also added chopped peanuts. Yes, I know I could've skipped that step and just used chunky peanut butter but I had both smooth peanut butter and some leftover peanuts from another recipe so I used what I had. It worked out fine.

This is a good peanut butter cookie recipe; the dough handled well and the cookies baked up thick. As always, don't overbake it or you'll easily get more of a crisp texture and dry mouthfeel. It's got good peanut butter flavor. If you don't want the texture of the peanuts, just use creamy peanut butter and omit adding the chopped peanuts. Oddly, while I don't normally like nuts in my cookies, that aversion doesn't apply to peanuts in peanut butter cookies. Likely because they don't steam and soften like other nuts (cashews, pecans and almonds, I'm looking at you; macadamia nuts, you're off the hook).