Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

This recipe was meant to be made with some pretty pumpkin cookies, for the Halloween season, but I made them with my shooting star cutters. Pumpkins just seemed too large and rich for this cookie, and I didn't have a good one that would work well. 

• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) salted butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 12 oz milk chocolate, melted

Filling

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 Tbsp salted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• flaky sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the egg and mix until evenly combined. Add the flour, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, beat until combined and the dough forms a ball. If your dough feels too wet to roll out, add the additional 2 Tbsp cocoa powder. 

Generously flour your work surface. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Roll out one disk to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the cookies with a cookie cutter and carefully transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover the baking sheet and place in the freezer, freezing until firm, about 10 minutes. Roll out the leftover scraps and repeat with the remaining disk of dough, ensuring an even number of cookies. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. To make filling, add the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Dip half the cookies into melted chocolate to coat about 1/3 of the cookie. Decorate it as desired with additional melted chocolate. Sprinkle with sea salt. Chill the cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes. Spread the peanut butter filling over the remaining cookie halves (the ones not dipped in chocolate). Place the dipped cookie chocolate side up over the peanut butter, gently pressing to adhere. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days. 

NOTES: I had tons of peanut butter mixture and melted chocolate leftover so if you want to try to halve what the recipe says and see how far that gets you, go for it. Also, the peanut butter tends to smoosh out of the cookies when people take a bite so warn them. 

Serves: 2 dozen depending on cookie cutter size

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Recipe from Half Baked Harvest