Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Peanut Butter Surprises





The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is a total no brainer for me. I found these online at Martha Stewart's site A smooth peanut butter sealed inside a chocolate-chocolate-chip dough was just too much to pass up.


Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (divided 1, 1/4)
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (this didn't make sense to me - I'll explain later) Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French non stick baking mats). I only have one so I used parchment paper. It works just fine. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or hand mixer) beat butter, vegetable shortening, granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fluffy, combined between additions. Add vanilla; beat to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, mix on low speed until fully combined. Add chocolate chips, mix on low just until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; chill until firm, about an hour.
Note: this is where #1 didn't make sense - turning the oven to 350 degrees before putting the mix into the fridge for an hour - I'm sure that wasn't intended.

3. In a small bowl using a rubber spatula, stir together peanut butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.

4. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. (seriously make sure you space them properly). Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill thumbprint with 2 tsp peanut butter mixture. Top with a second tablespoon of flattened dough. Carefully mold dough to cover the surprise.





5. Bake until firm, about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. (because the cookies turned out so large, the baking process took more than 12 minutes - more like 18 minutes) Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and let cool completely on wire racks.



What I learned:

After reading some of the comments on the Martha Stewart site, I have to agree with other commenters. The flavour - deeeeelicious!!! They're tedious to make and sticky to work with. Once the batter comes out of the fridge and the butter warms up - if you don't keep water on your hands you're going to look like mud pie.

When it says leave 2 inches space - do it - these spread and for me they became monster cookies. That didn't at all take away from the taste but I was expecting a small cookie and and ended up with a frisbee wannabe.

I found putting 2 teaspoons of peanut butter mix on the cookie was making it even messier to work with so I reverted to 1 tsp which doesn't give you enough of a "surprise" in the centre.

I would make them again but next time, I'll leave the batter in the fridge overnight before I work with it and definitely use 2 tsp of peanut butter to get the flavour coming through.



Pssst.....November is Peanut Butter Lover's Month (Nick, is that true or did you make it up) and our friend Nick at The Peanut Butter Boy is asking for your favourite peanut butter recipes. Since I'm such a peanut butter junkie and they're all my favourites, I'll add this one to the mix. I know Psychgrad just made a pretty impressive peanut butter dessert recently and will blog about it soon so stay tuned for that one too. StumbleUpon

30 comments:

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

There is no better peanut butter than surprise peanut butter, it's like a warm hug from a stranger: an awkward change of pace at first, but still nice. Oh and a perfect recipe for the roundup, thanks Giz!

Surprisingly I didn't make the holiday month up! Although I can't find a source as to where the holiday originated. Perhaps I'll have to be the official spokesman for it?

Anonymous said...

They do sound delicious! But where's the innards shot with the surprise??

giz said...

Ricki - hahaha - it's there, on the top but you can hardly see the surprise - I shoulda put 2 tsp in the centre.

Patsyk said...

Those cookies look great! I may have to add those to my long list of Martha cookies to make! I know her cookies ALWAYS turn out irresistable.

kat said...

These sound like they'd be an instant favorite with Matt though making them doesn't sound like fun

Lucy..♥ said...

Talk about a favorite in the making, they look delish!!

Lucy..♥ said...

Oooh Giz, you have 2 too!! How wonderful, I just love Maltese pups ;-)

Lucy..♥ said...

Funny, right after I let that last comment go, I realized I just assumed... you can remove the latest comments if you like ;)

Anonymous said...

Wow, it's like a reese's cookie, how awesome is this! Thank you, thank you.

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

OOh yum! Thanks for all the tips too.

Beth (jamandcream) said...

A lovely little suprise. Hubby would love these.

Anonymous said...

You're right, chocolate and peanut butter is a hard combination to beat! I'll have to give these a try, and thanks for the tips as I'm sure they'll help when I try the recipe.
Even peanutbutterlovers.com doesn't list how this became peanut butter lovers month, but who cares...like I need an excuse to love my peanut butter!

OhioMom said...

A baked peanut butter cup, chocolate and peanut butter are my favorite foods :)

Melissa said...

I'll nominate you as the official spokesman Nick! I see you everywhere, constantly blabbing about peanut butter. ;) This is a great contribution Giz and they look delicious.

That Girl said...

I use the same method with my peanut butter cookies!

Cakelaw said...

My first thought on seeing th photo at the top of this post was "yum". Then I saw the raw chocolate dough with the peanut butter - and was transported to heaven. Love these!

grace said...

i love surprises (unless they come in the form of unexpected guests when my hair is unwashed and my clothes are ragged). peanut butter hidden in chocolate is one of the better surprises out there, clearly. :)

Anonymous said...

Check out the King Arthur Flour version of this on their blog- www.kingarthurflour.com/blog.
I have not made either version, but the KAF one has step-by-step instructions, and looks at little more approachable. Maybe I'll bake both this weekend and do a test test!
Carrie B.

Lori said...

Oh my, could you pass a few over here. My mouth is literally watering!
OMG my word to type in here is dialize.

giz said...

Anonymous - thank you so much for the link to the KAF blog for the recipe - it's a very good tutorial and explains alot. I'm going to try following their recipe as well. So, scratch leaving the dough in the fridge overnight - it'll cause the cookies to crack...who knew.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

These would be hard to resist Psychgrad. For real peanut butter lovers 2 helpings of peanut butter are definitely required.

Deborah said...

Oooh, I'm all for Peanut Butter Month! These sound wonderful!

Ivy said...

The cookies look delicious. This is a recipe I would definitely like to try.

pam said...

Peanut butter and chocolate are always good!

Dan said...

I saw this recipe in my e-mail and thought I had to try them. After reading your post about them I really have to try them, they look delicious!
________________________________
Check out my veggie garden blog:
http://veggiegardenblog.blogspot.com/

Darius T. Williams said...

Whoa...I love surprises and this is a good one!

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Vera said...

Who doesn't like surprises? And these look like very pleasant ones. Yummy cookies, Giz!

test it comm said...

Those cookies look great!

Anonymous said...

oh, i absolutely love peanut butter surprises! but i've nvr seen them in chocolate cookies! they must be so delish!

Dishin And Dishes said...

I received the Martha Stewart cookie cookbook for Christmas and a new KitchenAide mixer. My girls and I have been making her cookies for 2 months now - all are MAJOR tedious and messy and do labor intensive things like "dissolve the baking soda in 2 T. water before adding to mix" and other such things...the cookies have ALL been amazing though so it's worth it! These sound wonderful!

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