Peanut Butter Cup

Your yummy got in my cookie. No...your cookie got in my yummy. You know the story. Chocolate and peanut butter are two great tastes that taste great together.

This is a perfected version of my original recipe. Since making these cookies the first time a few months ago, I've developed what I think is the perfect chocolate cookie dough. Tasters of my Fake-Out-Eos (my stuffed take on Oreos—recipe TK) will recognize the chocolate “shell” of these cookies. What’s my secret? Well, let’s just say it’s a certain cocoa breakfast cereal (Wilma!) Chocolate, in four different forms, gets the spotlight here.

The other star of these cookies is, of course, the peanut butter. Unfortunately, the Reese’s brand of peanut butter is not the stuff in the center of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I learned this when I made these cookies the first time. Jon and I searched high and low for a jar of Reese’s peanut butter only to find that it was just standard, everyday, run-of-the mill, plain old bland peanut butter. What a letdown.

It’s no secret that what makes the filling of a Reese’s cup so good is its balance of salt and sweet. So I got into the kitchen and started tinkering. To straddle the saltiness-sweetness line, I started with my favorite peanut butter and added confectioner’s sugar and a just a bit of salt, which I ground down to a superfine powder so that its texture matched the sugar and mixed easily into the peanut butter. A touch of vegetable oil makes the peanut butter filling smooth and silky. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. (Check out my Quamut wicki for step-by-step stuffing instructions.)

Filling	1 cup smooth peanut butter 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon finely ground salt 1 1/2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
Creamables	2 sticks butter 2 cups brown sugar 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Wet Ingredients	2 eggs 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla 2 tablespoons milk
Dry Ingredients	1 1/2 cups flour 2 1/2 cups oatmeal 3 1/2 cups coarsely ground Cocoa Pebbles 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, microplaned 2 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, microplaned 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Add the filling ingredients to a medium bowl and mix well. Let the mixture cool and solidify in the refrigerator until step 7.
2. Preheat oven to 350º.
3. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
5. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
6. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
7. Remove the filling mixture from the refrigerator and stuff each dough ball with 1 teaspoon of the mixture. Put the stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.
8. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[Lorraine]

Your office must have been in heaven yesterday as tasters of these cookies! They look totally delicious. Great cookie picture!! Your cookie photography matches your baking.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Thanks, Lorraine. I'm running out of backgrounds, plates, and placemats! I'll have to go shopping for props soon...