Cravings are sometimes insatiable. As a baker and foodie who also takes exercise very seriously, I get a lot of food cravings. King Salmon and Halibut are almost always on my craving list. I could eat them every single day. The smell of them baking in the oven makes my mouth water.
But sweets are my thing. Sometimes pie gets on my mind and won’t get off until crust is rolled, filling made, the smell of baking pie fills the house, and the cooled masterpiece is sliced and served. More often, I crave cake. I love soft, moist, sometimes gooey cake, whether it’s filled with fruit or nuts, or coated in a healthy serving of creamy frosting. Cake is the kind of thing I spend all day thinking about until dessert time comes after dinner. Donuts, ice cream sandwiches, and anything Momofuku also rank high on the craving meter.
Cookies are rarely something I crave. It’s hard to find the perfect cookie to suit my tastes: soft, maybe a little gooey, not brown, huge, clearly no chocolate, and it’s even harder to make them. I have trouble underbaking cookies just enough to have that perfect cookie texture and prevent browning. But the other day I got a craving for a peanut butter cookie. It stuck around for days. All I could think about was peanut butter cookies. It was a good thing I had just whipped up some homemade peanut butter and had bookmarked Double Delight Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies from Sugar Plum. Sugar Plum was the first, and still one of the few, bloggers to welcome me to the baking blog community, so I appreciate that and have thoroughly explored her blog. These cookies are one of the many things I have been dying to make from the site.
They’re not just plain old peanut butter cookies. No way. They’re filled with peanut butter, then rolled in sugar, cinnamon, and honey roasted peanuts. The flavor combination is amazing, satisfying every peanut butter craving cell in my body. I thought the peanut butter center would be my favorite part, and while I loved it, it was actually the cookie itself that was my favorite, being the best peanut butter cookie I’ve ever had.
Be careful with the coating. The first few cookies had tons of sugary peanut goodness, but the last few barely got anything. You could also make extra topping if you want them all fully coated. Also, when I make these again (and I will be making them again), I am going to bake them at 350 instead of 375 and watch the time more closely. They weren’t overdone for anyone but me, but I would have preferred they be less brown on the bottom and slightly chewier and softer.
The next time you have a peanut butter craving, check these cookies out. They’ll satisfy the craving, but the craving will probably come back even more frequently with the exceptional taste of this treat just asking to be made again and again.
Peanut Butter Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
Ingredients
- Cookies
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup (or a little more) creamy natural peanut butter, cold (I used homemade)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 heaping tablespoon honey
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Filling
- ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
- ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter, cold (I used homemade)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Coating
- 2/3 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts (I used Planter’s)
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (or 350 if you don’t want the cookies to be brown on the bottom). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Make the cookies. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, butter, sugars, and honey until well combined, light, and fluffy. I used a spoon, but a hand or stand mixer would also work. Mix in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until fully combined. Put the dough in the refrigerator while making filling and coating.
- Make the filling. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, peanut butter, and honey until well combined. Divide mixture into 18 portions and shape into balls. I divided it in 4 sections, got 4 from each section, and left some for 2 more.
- Make the coating. In a small bowl, stir together peanuts, sugar, and cinnamon.
- Assemble the cookies. Divide the cookie dough into 18 portions in the same way you divided the filling. Flatten 1 piece of dough at a time in the palm of your hand. Place a ball of filling on the dough and wrap the dough around the ball, making sure it completely covers it. Roll the cookie in the coating and place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with fingertips.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, rotating halfway through if necessary, until the cookies are barely golden brown around the edges and still quite soft to the touch. They may also be slightly cracked. Cool completely on pan or they will break. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 4 months. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Sugar Plum
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
Well this is one I will have to make when Scott comes home because peanut cookies are his favorite and I love peanut butter too. They look fabulous!
★★★★★
I know you guys would like them. Please let me know if you do make them 🙂
I adore these cookies – whenever I make them, my husband is extremely happy (although he’s happy when I bake anything, to be honest).
These are great cookies, aren’t they? I’ve already eaten a few out of the freezer and each time I’m amazed at how tasty and peanut buttery they are.
Wow! Peanut butter cookies stuffed with peanut butter and rolled in peanuts! Does it get any better?
Plain peanut butter cookies are delicious, but there’s definitely something special about these. As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make it.
*sigh* I aaaalways crave cookies. And oooooh emmmm geeee! These are crazy! I’m obsessed
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Kayle! If you make these, you’ll be even more obsessed. They are so good.