Peanut Butter Cookies with a Dark Chocolate Drizzle
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Serves: 18
 
These peanut butter cookies have a slightly chewy center and a crumbly exterior. Stuffed with salted peanuts and drizzled with dark chocolate, these cookies are a peanut butter lover's dream!
Ingredients
  • 113g (or ½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 220g (or 1 cup, packed) light brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 130g (or ½ cup) smooth peanut butter, I used Skippy
  • 1 egg
  • 190g (or 1½ cup) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 80g salted peanuts, plus more to press into the tops of the cookies
  • 60g (or 2 ounces) dark chocolate
Instructions
  1. First, preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F (standard oven setting).
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until creamed. This should take you a minute or so. Add the vanilla, maple syrup and peanut butter and mix until well combined. Add the egg and mix for a few seconds to mix it in. Don’t overmix the batter at this point! The egg should be barely mixed in, otherwise the cookies will get tough.
  3. Add the flour and baking powder and stir, using a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, until combined. Roughly chop the peanuts. It’s okay if they’re still some whole peanuts in there. Set about a tablespoon of chopped peanuts aside to press into the tops of the cookies later, then fold the remaining peanuts into the dough.
  4. Roughly roll the dough into balls – that’s right: no need to chill the dough first - using 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Arrange the dough balls about 5-cm (or 2-in) apart on a baking sheet (mine was black) and press a few of the peanut pieces you set aside earlier into the top of each ball. Using a fork, gently press each ball down twice to create a cookie shape and that characteristic criss-cross pattern.
  5. Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature on the baking sheet. Once the cookies are cool enough to handle, transfer to a wire rack (you may need an offset spatula to remove them from the baking sheet) and allow to cool to room temperature.
  6. In the meantime, melt the chocolate in the bowl of a double boiler. Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled cookies. Place the cookies in the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden.
  7. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. Enjoy!
Recipe by The Tough Cookie at https://thetoughcookie.com/2014/03/28/easy-peanut-butter-cookies-with-a-dark-chocolate-drizzle/