The internet, or at least as far as I’ve seen, has three favorite peanut butter cookies. The first is a thing where you take a peanut butter cookie dough or prepared chocolate chip cookie dough, press it into a mini-muffin tin, press a miniature peanut butter cup inside of it andbake them together. Nobody has ever made these for me and I’m kind of mad about it. The second is this 4-ingredient, one bowl, hand-whisked salted peanut butter cookie, curiously absent in flour, butter and leaveners, that’s been around forever until the clever cooks atOvenlyfigured out that using brown sugar instead of white, them into larger half-domes, and covering them with sea saltraised them to the unforgettable. The third is a soft chocolate cookie wrapped around a peanut butter filling and bakes into peanut butter cup cookies. No wait,pillows.
I’ve seen them around for years. I thought I’d try my hand at them one day. But then in December, rumor has it that this cookie won the annual cookie contest at my publisher’s. And as a certain cookie — the gooey oat / bake sale winning-est bars in my secondcookbook— won the previous year, this cookie effectively knocked it off its pedestal, oh, my interest was piqued. And by piqued, I mean, how dare it.
They always look amazing in picture but could they really be that good? I theorized that we liked the idea of them more than the taste. I narrowed my eyes at every recipe being an exact replica of the Google result before it, not a quarter-teaspoon of salt differential between them. How could a recipe be so… unscrutinized? I make a recipe the first time and declare it perfect, above tweaking, about once a year. But I made them to the letter and, indeed, they are fantastic. My husband andkidsthought they’d won the lottery (I reminded them —ahem!— they already had.)
There was just one little thing. They were kind of pale. I feel with chocolate baked goods, one should go dark or go home. I don’t mean bittersweet; I mean intensity. I mean, I don’t believe a vanilla cake with two tablespoons of cocoa powder in it is a chocolate cake and never will. So, I increased the proportion of cocoa powder, and the cookies came out darker and more chocolaty, but not a whole lot. I considered going to a full half-half split between cocoa and flour, but suspected I’d run into structural issues if I pushed things that far, and instead used Dutch-process (a darker, more nutty variety that’s standard in Europe but sold here too) cocoa and you know how Mary Berry likes to say “why, you’ve really cracked it!” Well, she did not. But when I bit into the first cookie, well, it crossed my mind. They’re soft and brownie-like and basically just deathly good. I had three. Please come and remove the rest from my home.
One year ago:An Easier Way To Make CookiesandGuacamoleTwo years ago:Spaghetti Pie with Pecorino and Black PepperandBanana Pudding with Vanilla Bean WafersThree years ago:Fried Egg Salad,Caramelized Onion and Gruyere BiscuitsandCharred Cauliflower QuesadillasFour years ago:Homemade Dulce de LecheandCheese BlintzFive years ago:Intensely Chocolate SablesandPasta and White Beans with Garlic-Rosemary OilSix years ago:Potato Chip CookiesandCheddar, Beer and Mustard Pull-Apart BreadSeven years ago:Roast Chicken with Dijon SauceandMushroom and Farro SoupEight years ago:Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions,Ricotta Muffins,Mixed Citrus Salad with Feta and MintandEdna Mae’s Sour Cream PancakesNine years ago:Sugar Puffs,Smashed Chickpea SaladandBittersweet Chocolate and Pear CakeTen years ago:Key Lime Cheesecake,Rigatoni with Eggplant PureeandCandied Grapefruit PeelsEleven years ago:Icebox Cake
And for the other side of the world:Six Months Ago:German Chocolate Cake + A Wedding Cake1.5 Years Ago:Eggplant with Yogurt and Tomato Relish,Blueberry Bread and Butter PuddingandSummer Squash Pizza2.5 Years Ago:Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles with Cucumber3.5 Years Ago:Summer Squash Gratin with Salsa Verde,Bourbon Slush Punch, andThree-Ingredient Summertime Salsa4.5 Years Ago:Banana Nutella and Salted Pistachios PopsiclesandCharred Corn Crepes
Filling2/3 cup (170 grams) creamy peanut butter2/3 cup (80 grams) powdered sugarTwo pinches of flaky seas saltCookie1/2 cup (115 grams or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature for a mixer, cold is fine for food processor1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar, plus more to coat cookies1/2 cup (95 grams) dark brown sugar1/4 cup (65 grams) creamy peanut butter1 large egg1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour2/3 cup (55 grams) dutched cocoa powder (see note)2 teaspoons baking powder1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
My changes to the standard recipe were as follows: First, I found it a little easier to assemble the cookies if I made the filling first, dolloped it out on a tray, and froze it while assembling the outer cookie layer. It doesn’t take any more time, and those more firm centers are easier to wrap the outer cookie around. I also added some sea salt to the filling. I found that the suggested amount of filling (3/4 cup each of peanut butter and sugar) consistently made way too much; I’ve reduced it slightly here (2/3 cup each) but you will likely still have a few blobs of extra filling; seems safer than too little. I found that a little more than the usual teaspoon suggested is ideal for the filling; I use a teaspoon measure and mound it a bit on top, so it’s more like 1 1/2 teaspoons. This gives you an almost equal striation of cookie-filling-cookie.
