A Happy Baker
It isn’t often that a dessert I am baking stumps me. This is not because I believe I am foolproof when it comes to baking. If the truth be told, I tend to bake with ingredients I love and with which I am comfortable. This in turn makes baking easier for me.
Until…
I got this idea to bake a peanut butter cup inside a peanut butter cookie. It sounded like a no-brainer. I mean, really, it just couldn’t be any easier!
Until…
I came up with a peanut butter cookie recipe that I thought would be great, baked up a batch of giant cookies stuffed with a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup and found that the ratio was off. The peanut butter cups were too small and, to make matters more frustrating, the dough was a bit dry.
I shaped the next batch using a smaller cookie dough scoop and thought that this was a better ratio, only to determine the cookie was still too dry. I then went another route altogether and baked the third batch in an 8” x 8” baking pan. I put a layer of cookie dough on the bottom, topped that layer with TONS of peanut butter cups and then topped those with more cookie dough. Once this was baked and cooled, I drizzled melted chocolate over the top.
I sent them out to friends and neighbors, nearly waking up sleeping children because I was on a mission. The feedback was wonderful but I was still concerned that the dough was a bit dry. Not, “OMG, I can’t swallow” dry, but rather, “I want a glass of milk to go with these” dry. Not a bad thing, but I was still not entirely satisfied.
So, being the insane person that I am, I baked one more round; this time making the smaller cookies and shortening the baking time. I can’t tell you how silly I felt when they came out just right and I realized that I had been overbaking the cookies all along.
I felt rather foolish wondering where my brain cells had gone for something that should have been obvious. Fortunately, I am of the mindset that as long as the light bulb goes on, I am a happy baker. I just hope that my next recipe does not take as long!
| Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies | | Print |
- Cookies:
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1¼ cups creamy peanut butter
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 38 Reese's miniature peanut butter cups
- Topping:
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, melted
- For the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
- Combine the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and sugar in large bowl. Beat until light and creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Blend in the dry ingredients.
- Flatten 2 teaspoons of dough in the palm of one hand. Place a Reese's mini peanut butter cup in the center of the dough. Wrap the edges around the peanut butter cup. You may have to maneuver the dough to go over the top.
- Bake in a 350° oven for 14 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets.
- For the topping:
- Place the melted butter into a quart size plastic freezer bag. Seal and cut a small corner off the end that does not zip. Squeeze the chocolate over the cookies in a decorative pattern.
