Thank you to everyone who came over and entered to win this awesome cookbook! I just loved reading all your comments. They were so fun to read and I found myself laughing out loud with all the humor that went into them. I love it! Thanks, everybody!
Now without further ado, the lucky winner of an autographed copy of the Our Best Bites cookbook (chosen by random.org) is:
#34 - MeganandClaudy who said: “I love to bake. However, my favorite recipe is a NEW recipe. I get so excited to try something fresh.”
Congratulations! Please send me an e-mail with your mailing address within 48 hours to cupcakediaries1(at)hotmail(dot)com.
One of my most favorite things to do on a day where I have NOTHING going on is try a new recipe. I love how relaxing it is to get out all the ingredients and turn my iHome on to “Glee Presents: The Warblers.” Or anything from Glee rather!
I recently found myself surfing one of my new favorite websites, Just a Pinch, when I came across this blue ribbon winner. The title alone caught my attention. And when I read that the middle of these delicious cookies was a layer of sweet peanut butter filling…I was sold. I guess you could say it was one of those, “You had me at hello” moments. There really is magic in the middle of these babies.
I quickly found out that if I made these cookies by myself plus take pictures it would take me the whole day. These cookies are already a process. So I’d like to give credit to my hand models:
My twin sister, Amber, and my mom, Rhonda
Thanks for all your help, you two!
Ingredients (makes 2 dozen cookies)
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar, plus a little extra for rolling
- 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
- 1 stick butter butter, softened
- 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 c. peanut butter (for filling)
- 3/4 c. powdered sugar (for filling)
Directions
In your mixing bowl, throw in both sugars, the butter, and 1/4 c. of peanut butter. (I’m just now noticing that I didn’t take the picture with the brown sugar in the bowl. Oops!)
Mix all of that together till it’s nice and creamy and fluffy.
Then add the vanilla…
..and the egg and egg yolk. (We made a double batch, that’s why there are more eggs pictured.)
Beat the mixture to get everything nice and combined.
Time for the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the other mixture so the dry stuff doesn’t go everywhere. Get that all mixed together.
It will look like this when you’re done. I know what you’re thinking right now.
And I agree with you! That dough is seriously amazing so just go for it. Grab a taste or two then set the dough aside.
Now it’s time to make the filling. In a small bowl, stir together the 3/4 c. of peanut butter and the powdered sugar until nice and smooth. You’ll be tempted to try this too! You know I did.
The faces behind the hands. And yes, she’s my twin! We don’t look much alike. She got the nice dark hair, eyes, and skin. You know what the opposite of that is? Me.
With floured hands or a teaspoon scoop, roll the filling into 24 balls. (My hand models found it was easiest to flour their hands and roll them that way.)
Don’t you want to take one of those and pop it in your mouth? I did that too. A couple of times. Ok, a few times. We did a double batch and made a lot.
To shape the cookies, use a tablespoon-size scoop. You won’t want to make a heaping scoop if you want to get all 24 cookies out of the dough. (Don’t have a tablespoon cookie scoop? You can use the tablespoon measuring spoon.)
Turn the scoop or the measuring spoon around and make an indentation.
Place a peanut butter ball in the middle of the indentation.
Bring the cookie dough up and over the peanut butter filling.
Press the edges together over the center so the peanut butter is nice and covered.
Roll it in your hand to get it nice and round. Then dip it in a little bowl of white sugar (NOT powdered sugar).
Place the ball on a greased cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. I would be totally ok if this were the end of this recipe. I don’t need that thing to be baked! Looks delicious. But I guess for health reasons we should probably bake it. Repeat the whole process with the rest of the dough, leaving about 2 inches between each dough ball on the sheet.
Now it’s time to flatten all the cookie dough balls. Grease the bottom of a glass and flatten to about 1/2-inch thick.
Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes. (We ended up baking them for the full 9 minutes.) Just watch them and make sure they’re set.
Remove them from the oven and place them on a cooling rack. Unlike chocolate chip and other cookies, you can take these cookies off the pan and onto the cooling rack as soon as they get out of the oven.
Doesn’t that look fabulous? Magic in the middle indeed.
So you say you’d rather have the cookies look crinkly and like snicker doodles? We thought the same thing. Actually we just forgot to smash the balls down before putting one of the pans in the oven so we had to do it after they got out. Here’s what I suggest if you want them to look crinkly like this:
Bake them for the allotted time in ball form. After taking them out of the oven, smash them down with the greased glass then put them back in the oven for two more minutes.
