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peanut butter sandwich cookie with peanut butter chocolate ganache: craggy, rustic, thick and absolutely addictive!

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache

Closely adapted from Sweet Peas and Saffron. Note that this cookie is best made over 2 days, to allow the dough time to rest in the fridge. Make sure your cookie dough balls are truly about 1 tablespoon of dough, or else the cookies will be way too big!


Note that prep time does not include chill time.

Course Dessert
Cuisine Cookies
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Author TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups (215 g) white whole wheat flour
  • 1 t potato flour
  • ½ t baking powder
  • ½ t baking soda
  • 1/2 t fine sea salt
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup peanut butter, room temperature, I used Jiff
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 packed dark brown sugar (I like this for added color--use all light brown sugar if a problem)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t vanilla
  • turbinado type coarse sugar for rolling (I used raw cane sugar)

For assembling:

  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped chocolate (I used a mix of 62% cacao semisweet and 39% cacao milk chocolate)

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Set aside.
  2. Beat the butter and peanut butter until creamy and completely incorporated, preferably in a stand mixer. Pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl several times.
  3. Add the sugars in 3 installations, beating well to incorporate each time. Continue to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
  4. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape the sides and bottom again.
  5. Mix in the flour mixture on the lowest speed. When completely mixed, transfer to a smaller bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
  6. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375 F. Place parchment paper or silicone mats on 2 cookie sheets.
  7. Place about 1/2 cup of coarse turbinado sugar in a shallow bowl or dish. Pinch off tablespoon-size pieces of dough, roll quickly in your hands to make a ball, then roll the ball of dough in the sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheets--I got 12 cookies to a sheet.
  8. Slightly flatten the balls with the palm of your hand, and then finish flattening a little more firmly (not a lot) with a cookie stamp or 2 forks.
  9. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until golden brown. The more pale cookies in the very top photo baked for about 8 minutes. The slightly more crisp darker cookies in the photo right above this recipe baked for more like 10 minutes. Both were delicious.
  10. While the cookies are baking, prepare the filling: Place the chocolate peanut butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium low heat. Stir in the chocolate. When it is melted and cohesive, remove from the heat. Hitting the sweet spot here is kind of tricky--when the mixture is super warm it will not hold onto the cookie and will instead drip over. However, you need to work quickly once the mixture is thick enough to spread, because soon it becomes almost too thick, which is why some of my cookies have a much messier filling!
  11. At any rate, cool the cookies completely before dolloping 1-2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture into the center of a cookie. Use a second cookie to press down (gently) and spread the chocolate to the edges. The range of filling amount just depends on how stuffed you want your cookies--we liked a lot of the filling!
  12. These cookies can be stored at room temperature (assuming your house is not super hot, like over 75 F) in a sealed container because the chocolate will help ensure that the peanut butter filling hardens.