OMG YES.
For Day 2 of Cookie Week, I’m sharing the cookies that I literally dream about at night: PEANUT BUTTER STUFFED CHOCOLATE COOKIES.
Also known as XL homemade peanut butter cups, but in cookie form.
They’re made with a dark chocolate olive oil cookie dough (that’s dairy-free and has some serious brownie vibes), stuffed with an almost-too-big-but-wait-its-perfect dollop of peanut butter (like, 2x the amount most recipes call for), topped with as many chocolate chips as you can fit on said peanut butter dollop (say, 4-6), then covered with a little hat of flattened cookie dough on top to quite literally seal the deal.
They bake in a flash, since we aren’t worried about cooking the peanut butter in the middle, and have the perfect ratio of crispy edges to melty chocolate to thick peanut butter in every.single.bite.
It’s kind of like eating a brownie with a smear of peanut butter on top of, but the peanut butter is already built in to the equation. I’m not even exaggerating a little bit when I say I’d be completely content if all I got for Christmas was a batch of these cookies, stuffed right into my stocking.
Full disclosure, though: these cookies aren’t the prettiest on the holiday table. They have plump little centers, can get a little crackly looking when baked, and just look like an unusually lumpy chocolate cookie from a distance. If you want to make them look extra pretty, feel free to melt a little chocolate and drizzle it on top, or add a little dusting of powdered sugar on each cookie to make them extra pretty for the holidays.
Or, do like I did for the photos and sprinkle a little flaky sea salt on top, and if anyone overlooks them because they aren’t covered in sprinkles or frosting or any of the usually holiday fare, well, consider it their loss. More leftover peanut butter stuffed cookies for you, my friend.
What they lack in aesthetic appeal, though, these plump little peanut butter cookies FULLY make up for in flavor and texture. In fact, I happened to leave one in a container on the counter for 5 days (I thought they were all gone, or I’d have eaten it tout suite), and found that, unlike most cookies, which tend to dry out or get rather meh after a day or two of sitting around, these were almost exactly the same on day 5 as day 1.
So, package these babies up and ship them across the country to your loved ones because they’re miracle cookies that can handle a few extra days without compromising on their texture AT ALL.
If you’re forever and always in love with the combination of peanut butter and chocolate like I am, you are going to OBSESS over these cookies.
If you make them, be sure to leave a comment below letting me know what you think, or take a picture of them and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!
Happy baking, friends! See you back here tomorrow with the next recipe for cookie week!
XO,
Chelsea
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 12 cookies
Ingredients:
peanut butter filling
- 2/3 cup creamy, all-natural peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
cookies
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar (can sub brown sugar or sucanat)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and make space in your freezer for the sheet pan to sit level (if a sheet pan won’t fit in your freezer, you can just chill the dough on a plate then transfer to a sheet pan once chilled, or chill in the fridge for double the time)
- Stir together all filling ingredients in a small bowl, then scoop onto a plate in 2 teaspoon sized balls. To make this easier, I like to use a 1/2 Tablespoon-sized measuring spoon, slightly heaped over, to get them all about the same size. You could also use a teaspoon, very heaped. Transfer the plate to the freezer to chill while you make the cookie dough.
- Whisk together the oil, sugar, and egg in a large bowl. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder + soda, and salt, and mix well to combine.
- Scoop the cookies into 12 2-Tablespoon sized balls (I like to use a small cookie scoop to make them all even- don’t make them any bigger or you won’t have enough dough leftover to cover the tops!), then use a tablespoon to press down on each dough ball, creating a well in the center of each. The extra dough left in the bowl will be used to top each cookie later.
- Remove the peanut butter from the freezer and use a small spatula to place a peanut butter dollop in the center of each ball of cookie dough. Top each with 3-4 chocolate chips, or as many as you can comfortably fit on top of the peanut butter.
- Use a 1/2 Tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop the remaining cookie dough into small balls, flattening each one in the palm of your hand to form a little disc roughly the size of each cookie ball. Cover each cookie with dough, pressing down gently along the edges to stick the dough to itself.
- When all cookies are covered (don’t worry about a few cracks here and there- they’ll all fill in when the cookies bake), place the sheet pan into the freezer to chill for a few minutes, while the oven preheats.
- While cookies chill, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bake cookies for 6-7 minutes, or until they have spread slightly and their edges are set. Don’t worry about baking these until the centers look cooked- it’s just peanut butter in there!
- Let cookies cool at least 10 minutes on the pan before serving. Cooled completely, these cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.