Cookies

June 4, 2023

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Crispy on the edges, chewy & gooey in the middle, the perfect salty & sweet balance with that gorgeous surprise centre of creamy peanut butter, such a good combo. 

Looking for more cookie recipes? What about White chocolate raspberry pistachio cookies or The OG chocolate chip cookies?

Tips for making the best cookies

Do not skip on salt and vanilla - It doesn’t sound like much of an addition, but it makes all the difference in your final bake. DO NOT SKIP on these key ingredients! They are the key to that perfect balance in flavours

Get a good quality and smooth peanut butter - You don’t want that centre to be grainy and you do want a good nutty flavour, so opt for a good quality smooth peanut butter. Preferably not an all-natural one, as these tend to be too soft to stuff cookies with

Do not overmix your batter - Overmixing your batter will cause your cookies to spread out too thinly in the oven, giving you a flatter and crispier cookie

Chill your cookie dough before baking - This sounds excessive but allowing your cookie dough to chill in the fridge for a few hours before baking allows for the flavours to settle in and for the butter to harden again. Once you bake your chilled dough, you will get the perfect height and spread of your dough. Not chilling the dough makes the cookies spread too much in the oven and they just won’t have the same intensity of flavour

Do not overbake - When these cookies come out of the oven, they look slightly underbaked. However, cookies always continue to cook once they are out of the oven. Usually, a cookie will take up to 20 minutes after it has been taken out of the oven to be entirely done cooking, chilling, setting and being ready to eat. 

Allow your cookies to cool completely - Due to the above, not allowing your cookies to cool properly will halt the final stages of their cooking process and leave you with underbaked cookies. I know it’s hard, but let your cookies rest for at least 20 minutes before digging in!

How do you stuff your cookies? 

I prefer freezing my filling in portions before stuffing the cookies. This will allow the mixture to stiffen up and makes it easier to handle once you get to the stuffing part. 

Can you freeze these cookies?

Absolutely! I would recommend freezing to pre-scoop your dough into cookie dough balls and place them in a ziplock freezer-safe bag. These stay fresh for up to 3 months in the freezer and you can basically bake them on demand! Frozen cookie dough balls will create a slightly thicker cookie but definitely just as tasty. Either allow your cookie dough to come to room temperature (about 30 ish minutes) and bake according to instructions, or bake a bit longer directly from frozen. Just look for those crispy edges & gooey middle to take them out of the oven. 

How to store these peanut butter chocolate cookies

These cookies are definitely at their best on the day they are baked. I would not recommend baking these cookies ahead of time as they tend to go slightly stale after 2 days. You can keep them ‘fresh’ in an airtight container for up to 3 days. However, I would recommend baking and consuming them on the same day or within 2 days. 

Because of this, I highly recommend keeping your freezer stocked with this cookie dough so you can simply bake them on demand.

Baking time and oven temperature

Baking time and oven temperature may vary depending on the oven you are using.  All oven temperatures in my recipes are based on a conventional oven. If you bake with a fan-assisted oven, turn down the temperature slightly as these ovens tend to become hotter than a conventional oven at that temperature setting. Ovens have the tendency to deviate from the temperature you set the oven to. I would highly recommend using an oven thermometer to ensure the inside of your oven is at the right temperature. My oven for example only goes up to 160C even though I turn it up to 230C 

An oven that is too hot may result in an overbaked or burnt bake and an oven that is too cold may result in underbaked and soggy bakes. Having the thermometer will not only help in getting the right temperature but also helps in determining the right baking time. 

Enjoy loves! xx

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Crispy on the edges, chewy & gooey in the middle, the perfect salty & sweet balance with that gorgeous surprise centre of creamy peanut butter, such a good combo.

Author:

Demi Bruggink

Prep:

15

min

cook:

10

min

total:

30

min

Yield:

12

Portions

Ingredients

  • 160gr butter (room temperature)
  • 200gr flour
  • 25gr cacao powder
  • 180gr light-brown sugar
  • 50gr granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 1tbsp vanilla
  • 200gr peanut butter chips
  • 12tsp smooth peanut butter

Instructions

  1. Place 12 teaspoon sizes of peanut butter on a sheet lined with parchment paper. Pop these in the freezer to set completely before moving on to the dough. 
  2. In a medium to large mixing bowl, whip together your butter, sugars & vanilla until light and fluffy using a hand or stand mixer. Lastly, whisk in your egg and egg yolk until a smooth mixture forms.
  3. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together your flour, cacao powder, salt and baking powder
  4. Switch over to a spatula and fold in your flour mixture. Once the flour is halfway mixed in, add your peanut butter chips and mix until no dry flour parts are left. Be careful not to overmix as this will make the cookies spread too much. 
  5. Scoop your cookies into balls, dimple the middle and place your frozen peanut butter ball in the centre. Wrap the remaining cookie dough around the peanut butter to completely cover all sides. Add more peanut butter chips on top if desired. 
  6. Place the dough balls in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight
  7. Once your cookie dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 180C
  8. Place your cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking tray, around 5 at a time and leave enough room in between them as the cookies will spread. Bake them for 10-12 minutes*. You are looking for the edges that are just starting to brown and the middle still underbaked, this is when you take them out. Cookies will continue to bake once they are out of the oven
  9. Let them cool completely before serving, allowing them to set and finish baking. Optionally, but I like to serve them with a pinch of flaky sea salt 

Notes:

*Baking time will depend heavily on the oven you are using. If you are using a fan-assisted oven, turn down your temperature by at least 10C. Or to be super accurate, use an oven thermometer to determine the actual temperature inside your oven, which needs to be at 170C.

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