February 8, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Chocolate Pecan Cookies with Sea Salt

Tags: baking, bittersweet chocolate, chocolate, cookie, pecans, sea salt

Sometimes you get attention when you really don’t want it. This happened to a friend of mine yesterday. Some dude, creeping her out in a coffee shop. So instead of feeling weird and awkward and creeped out…she did something weird and a little gross.

She picked her nose in an ultra-obvious way.

She texted me as she was doing this, knowing that this is the sort of thing that is right up my alley. I would totally do something like that. I’ve been known to do something weird to make a point. It not only turned the creeped-out table on that dude, but gave us both a good laugh.

So, if you don’t want that attention, be a weirdo. It works like a charm.

But…if you want some non-creepy attention, if you want someone to maybe even like you, cookies are always a good route. These cookies want your attention, even if they aren’t beauty queens. They have deep, chocolatey flavor, nutty-sweet pecans, rich bits of dark chocolate, and crunchy, sea salt sprinkles. They are dense, yet soft and yielding. Perfect with cold milk.

Chocolate Pecan Cookies with Sea Salt

Adapted from The Kitchn. Makes about 2 dozen.

The original recipe suggests using the best dutch-process cocoa, fresh nuts, and quality chocolate or chips. I agree whole-heartedly, the flavor of the cookies will be totally worth the quality ingredients. I used Valrhona cocoa powder, ghiradelli chips, freshly-toasted pecans, and Maldon salt. You can use just all-purpose flour if you do not have/want the white whole wheat.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white whole wheat flour

2/3 cup unsweetened, dutch processed cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips/chopped chocolate pieces

1 cup pecans, toasted and broken into pieces

flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375F and line sheet pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl whisk together flours, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and espresso. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer on medium, beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Scrape down sides and add eggs one at a time until well-combined, scraping as needed. Mix in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low and mix in dry ingredients, just until combined. Fold in the chocolate and nuts.

Drop or scoop dough onto baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for 10-15 minutes (mine took 11) until puffed and still slightly shiny in the middle. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Serve with cold glasses of milk.

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January 25, 2012 by cindy

Recipe: Chocolate Cake w/ Whipped Ganache

Tags: birthday, cake, chocolate, ganache, whipped ganache

Last week was my husband’s birthday. Sean turned 27, which makes us the same age now…as I am the older woman by 7 months.

Scandalous, I know.

There are many things about this dude that I love, for example:

He’s a major dork, for one…which is perfect, because I am prone to being a total weirdo myself.

He totes rids our home of all the spiders for me. This is key, since I become paralyzed with terror every time I come across one–from the tiniest little guy to the biggest ugliest ones. It’s irrational, I know. I just can not handle it though.

We hate all the same stuff. This is a totally negative and cynical way to look at things, but it’s true. And important. It just is.

He is a huge supporter of my blogging/baking/cooking endeavors. He manages all the technical stuff with this website AND manages business at his engineering job. Pro-fesh.

We both love to geek out about all sorts of things–nature, geology (I secretly/not so secretly now, love geology), music, the mountains, etc.

Speaking of geek-outs…we both LOVE food.

We love to splurge on quality over quantity. Trips and vacations, when we do travel, are centered around what we’re eating. I mean, we planned our honeymoon specifically to eat in a great food city–btw, Vancouver, BC is not only an amazing food city, but it is just so dang beautiful.

We share a lot of favorite foods–oysters (omg, omg), burgers of all sorts, korean food, mexican food, and oh-so-many more…but, the one that we both love…the one that he probably (somehow) loves more than me, is chocolate. That man (I have said it before), is a certifiable choco-saurus. So, every year (for the past 7 years), it’s always a chocolate cake for his birthday in some form or another. This year, it was pure and simple chocolate pound cake iced with whipped ganache. It really can’t get much more chocolate-y than that.

So, I guess my point is…after all that rambling…Sean is a great dude. My favorite in fact. We go together like birthdays and cake. I love him to bits and pieces and he can always count on me to make him the best chocolate birthday cake I can muster. Always and forevs.

Chocolate Birthday Cake w/ Whipped Ganache Frosting

cake adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet.

This cake recipe is actually a pound cake recipe that makes the perfect amount of batter for a 6-inch layer cake…which in my opinion, is a great size cake for smaller gathering (in this case, 2 people). The crumb is fantastic, tight and dense without being heavy. The whipped ganache is about as easy as it gets and is perfect for the choco-saurus’ in your life. Use any leftover ganache to roll into light and airy truffles. Another note about this cake, it is best served at room temperature, the frosting and cake will feel dry and hard if served cold–if you make it ahead and refrigerate, just let it sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes.

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter

2 large eggs + 1 egg white, cold

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2, 6-inch round cake pans by buttering and lining bottoms with parchment. Alternatively, butter and flour a 6 cup capacity tube pan.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, stir to combine.

Add the butter, egg, and white. Mix on medium-high for 2 minutes. Scrape bowl as needed. Combine milk, espresso, and vanilla. Add to the batter, mix for 2 minutes, scraping as needed. Scrape the batter into 2, 6-inch cake pans or into a tube pan.

Bake the cakes in the oven for about 25-35 minutes (it may take a little longer in the tube pan). Cool 10 minutes in the pan before unmolding to cool completely on cooling racks.

Once cooled completely, cut the cakes in half to make 4 layers.

Whipped Ganache Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart.

1 lb. chocolate coarsely chopped, or chips (I used ghiradelli)

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

Place chocolate and salt in a medium bow or bowl of a mixer, set aside.

In a saucepan, heat heavy cream just to a boil. Remove from heat and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plate and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk ganache until smooth and allow to cool to room temperature.

Beat cooled ganache until fluffy. Use immediately.

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December 5, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Chocolate Mint Creme Sandwich Cookies

Tags: baking, buttercream, chocolate, cookie, creme, holiday, mint, recipe, sandwich cookie

It’s chocolatey and minty around here still.

Since Andes are my husbands fave candy, since he’s a choco-saurus rex, since it’s Christmas time and that means cookie time, I made chocolate sandwich cookies with minty, whipped buttercream. It just seemed appropriate.

I think these cookies would make a fine addition to any holiday cookie spread, especially for those mint+chocolate loving guys and gals. The chocolate cookies hold their shape like a champ in the oven and have a little give on the tooth–which is totally necessary since we don’t want minty buttercream squishing out the sides with each bite. Cookie to creamy filling ratios are maintained and all is well. The buttercream is light and pleasantly minty–not punch-your-face-minty. It’s made with the crazy milky-flour-paste method, which I think makes such a creamy, dreamy, whipped up buttercream that melts oh-so-nicely on the tongue. It’s good stuff and even better sandwiched between two deep, dark cookies. At room temperature this frosting is pretty soft, so if you want something a little more stable I’d go with a butter+powdered sugar+extract sort of deal. You do what you want. You’re the boss.

Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies

adapted from Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies magazine 2010

The butter for this dough is melted, which makes it super easy to pull together if you haven’t thought about softening your butter ahead of time. This dough is pretty soft, even after being chilled. I would suggest dividing the dough and working with 1/3-1/2 at a time, leaving the remaining dough in the refrigerator.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened, Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup packed, brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

buttercream for filling

Whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg–add flour mixture and stir until dough forms.

Divide the dough in half, pat into disks and wrap well. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment to 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Using desired cutters, cut out shapes and transfer to parchement or silicone lined baking sheets. Chill cut-out cookies on sheets in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, until firm to the touch. Bake 1 sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 8-10 minutes–depending on size of cookie shapes–remove from oven and allow to cool completely on the sheets on a wire rack. Repeat, re-rolling scrap dough once or twice.

Spread cooled cookies with filling. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Mint Whipped Buttercream

adapted from Baked Explorations

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks/12 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons peppermint extract

green food color gel (I used a teeny, tiny amount to get a pale green color)

Fill the sink halfway with ice and water.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and flour. Add the milk and cream, whisk to combine and heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and has thickened.

Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixture and submerge the bowl halfway into the sink of ice water, and stir mixture until it cools to room temperature, making sure to not let any water into the bowl. Dry the bowl and fit it onto the stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on high until the mixture is completely cool, reduce the speed to low and and add butter, mix until incorporated thoroughly. Increase the speed to medium-high and and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the vanilla, mint extract, and food color gel (if using), and beat to combine.

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December 2, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Candy Cane Truffles

Tags: candy, candy cane, chocolate, holiday, hot chocolate, peppermint, truffle

Do you like candy canes? I never seem to get through a whole one, even when I was a kid. I would just suck on it until the end became sharp and spikey…then I would prod and torment my little brother with it.

Candy Canes…so sweet, so dangerous.

I do, however, like them crushed up so they become minty, crunchy, candy-cane-y sprinkles. That’s the best way to eat a candy cane in my opinion, sprinkled over some other sweet treat. Can you even believe I had to go to 2 different stores to find plain, old, peppermint canes?! The first store only sold those fruity, sour ones–they told me they weren’t even going to sell the traditional kind this year! I was baffled and told anyone that would listen all about it. They did sell pre-crushed candy canes in the baking section, but they cost way more than broken pieces of candy should. Like double the cost for half the amount of canes in a regular box. What the heck?! So, I went to a different store, got my canes, and smashed them with a mallet. Cost effective and stress relieving.

I’ve been planning on making these truffles for weeks now so I could stir them into a glass of hot milk for instant hot chocolate, but I’ve been waiting for our first snow and now that it’s here, it’s truffle hot chocolate time. I cut them into little cubes instead of rolling them into balls, it’s a quicker, easier process this way…plus, I think the little cubes are just so dang pretty.

And, I like pretty.

Candy Cane Truffle Hot Chocolate

I originally saw the idea to make truffles for hot chocolate here on Pinterest. These can be stirred into a cup of hot milk for a festive, warm beverage, or simply eaten as is. This recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc…just remember 2 parts chocolate to 1 part heavy cream. Viola! Truffle ganache!

4 ounces heavy cream

8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (chopped or chips)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

3 candy canes, crushed

hot milk (6-8 ounces per serving)

Line a small loaf pan with parchement, set aside.

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to scald (just before it boils, there will be little bubbles around the edges of the pan). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and cover (I just used a plate to cover my bowl) and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir vigouroulsy until smooth. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts until combined. If not all of the chocolate pieces are smooth and melted, fashion a double boiler out of a saucepan of simmering water and a heatproof bowl, gently heat chocolate mixture until smooth.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the loaf pan and smooth top. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces and allow to cool to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 30-60 minutes. Remove truffle from the pan and cut into cubes.

To make hot chocolate: Heat some milk in a pan or in the microwave. Place truffles into mugs (1-2 pieces per cup) and pour milk over the top. Stir. Top with whipped cream and more candy cane sprinkles as desired.

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October 31, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

Tags: baking, cake, chocolate, cream cheese, cupcake, frosting, halloween, holiday, pumpkin

Happy Halloween (and, happy Nevada Day, Nevadans)!

I hope everyone had a fun, spooky-scary weekend. Maybe you dressed up and hit the party circuit, maybe you handed out candy or just ate it by the handful, maybe you just lounged around and watched scary movies (guilty!)…whatever you did, I hope it was fun and festive.

I hope there were sweet treats involved and trickery of the good-natured variety.

Until next year ghoulfiends!

(bahaha, I’m totally cracking up about that one!)

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3.4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temp.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake wells (2 tins) with paper liners or grease well.

In a medium bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Set aside.

In a large measuring cup whisk together buttermilk, water, eggs, oil, and vanilla, to combine. Pour wet mixture into dry and fold until just incorporated. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake in the center of the oven for 16-20 minutes (mine were perfect after 17 minutes). Remove from oven and cool on rack completely before frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is pretty soft. I chilled it and then stirred vigorously before frosting.

1, 8ounce bar cream cheese at room temperature

4 tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add pumpkin, vanilla and bourbon and mix to combine. Beat in spices and then gradually add powdered sugar until completely incorporated. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Refrigerate, covered, if not using immediately.

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August 12, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Ricotta + Hazelnut Brownies

Tags: baking, brownie, chocolate, hazelnut, recipe, ricotta, weekend baking

I don’t know about you, but I like to do a whole lot-a-nada on the weekends.

There is always some eating, maybe a little antiquing, maybe a lazy walk with the dogs, definitely some couch napping, and sometimes a cooking/baking project if I’m feeling ambitious.

I’m not saying that brownies are ambitious, because they totally aren’t. Brownies are easy and chocolatey and that is why we like ‘em.

Making your own ricotta isn’t even ambitious, it just sounds that way.

If you make these brownies the people you share them with might think you’re some sort of kitchen wizard. The kind that spends all weekend conjuring up baked goods just for their enjoyment.

Thing is…

You don’t have to be a wizard to make these.

Not at all…I sure don’t know any spells.

Even if you make the ricotta from scratch.

But, you can let people believe you labored away over your cauldron all weekend.

They don’t need to know that you in fact, did not, and that maybe you napped on the couch with the TV on mute, cuddled up with your dog.

That you are in fact, NOT an alum of Hogwart’s, you just wish you were.

..and that you definitely weren’t talking horcruxes with your friend in a vintage shop or finding potato mashers so gigantic they could only be fit for Hagrid.

They don’t need to know that you’re just a total geek and a half.

No one needs to know that.

All they need to know is that you’re a whiz in the kitchen because you made them these crazy brownies.

Let them believe it.

You are a whiz.

Ricotta + Hazelnut Brownies

Again, I used Tracy’s recipe for ricotta. It’s just so dang easy guys! Make it, it will change your view on ricotta forever.

The brownies were adapted from Saveur.

Filling:

4 oz. ricotta, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

a pinch of salt

1 egg

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup finely ground, toasted hazelnuts

Brownie:

1 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped

4 Tablespoons butter

3/4 cup flour

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted hazelnuts

For the filling, beat together ricotta with sugar + salt until combined and smooth. Add egg, orange juice, and vanilla and beat until combined well. Fold in hazelnuts and cover with plastic. Set in refrigerator while you make the brownie batter.

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease an 8×8 pan and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides. Set aside.

Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt chocolate and butter. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Set aside.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa, and salt. Set aside.

Using a mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until smooth, pale yellow, and thick. About 2 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture to combine. Beat in vanilla. Fold in flour/cocoa mixture to combine. Fold in hazelnuts.

Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of ricotta mixture over the batter. Try to spread it out, this didn’t really work for me, so I just spread it as best as I could. Spread the remaining batter over the top and using a toothpick, marble the brownie batter with the ricotta mixture. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few sticky crumbs. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack before cutting. You can cut these small because they are RICH and delightful.

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July 21, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Crunchy Coconut & Macadamia Topped Brownies

Tags: baking, brownie, chocolate, cocoa, coconut, macadamia nut, recipe

I love chocolate, it’s no secret. I love baking with it, it’s always a crowd pleaser. I love it’s depth, color, fragrance…it’s all good.

Sean doesn’t just love chocolate…he LOVES it. He craves it. If he’s had a stressful day, he will seek it out. I always have a stash in the pantry for him, I even make a point to put it on my grocery list. If his chocolate stash is running low, he will break into my chocolate chips and baking bars. When he gets his fix, his eyes roll back, there’s drooling, and sometimes a little moaning.

He’s a downright, certifiable, choco-monster.

Knowing this about my dear husband, I do a lot of baking with chocolate. His favorite chocolate baked treat is probably a brownie. I’ve made endless different recipes in the past, but my go-to is Alice Medrich’s Best Cocoa Brownie, from her book Bittersweet. I feel it truly is the best cocoa brownie–chewy, rich, with a little bit of crust up top–seriously divine.

I don’t just love these brownies because they are delightful, but also because they come together quickly and use one bowl.

Less dishes, more brownies.

These are the joys of life.

Sean will take a plain, un-studded brownie any day. No complaints…but, he also loves a brownie with all kinds of mix-ins and goodness up in its business. This works well for both of us since I prefer brownies with stuff. I like a plain brownie, but I love a brownie with some other textures and maybe a little salt going on.

These brownies have it all.

Crunchy, toasty, sweet coconut, salty macadamias, and the faintest hint of spice.

Oh, goodness. These are so good.

I may have eaten just the tops of a few.

Luckily, Sean was around to eat the bottoms…since he’s so indiscriminate about brownies and all.

We’re a good pair.

Best Cocoa Brownies w/ Crunchy Coconut & Macadamia Topping

This is the fusion of 2 brownie recipes. The crunchy top of one, imposed onto the basic base of another. I have made these using the original recipe for Coconut-Pecan Crusted Brownies, but I like Alice’s Best Cocoa Brownie better for the base. I just do. It’s just my favorite.

These brownies are only made better by using some primo cocoa powder. I use Valrhona, it is hands down my ever-favorite cocoa powder. I order it online and always have a stash of it. I have never purchased it from a grocery store, but an okay, grocery store subsitute is Hershey’s Special Dark…but, I have to say, there’s nothing like Valrhona cocoa powder. And, no, Valrhona does not pay me to wax poetic about their product…they don’t know me, I’m just a fiend for it ;)

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup, plus 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (natural or dutch process)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 325F. To make bar shaped brownies, prepare an 8×8 pan by greasing and lining with parchment. To make brownie bites, line a mini-muffin tin with liners (makes about 30 minis).

Fashion a double boiler out of a saucepan and a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Add butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt–stir to combine until butter is melted and the mixture feels hot to the touch. Set aside and allow to cool to just warm.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in vanilla, then, add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Add flour and combine. Once flour is incorporated, continue to stir vigorously for about 40 strokes. Pour into a prepared 8×8 baking pan or into lined mini-muffins cups. Set aside and make the topping.

for the topping:

3/4 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

3/4 cup chopped, salted macadamia nuts (if you have unsalted ones, just add a pinch of salt)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

pinch of pumpkin pie spice

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

In a medium bowl combine all of the ingredients for the topping until everything is moistened with the melted butter. Either sprinkle topping over the batter in a pan or, using a teaspoon, heap spoonfuls onto minis.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownie comes out with a few sticky crumbs, but is not wet.

Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting/eating.

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June 14, 2011 by cindy

Recipe: Peanut Butter “Ninjas”

Tags: baking, chocolate, cookie, filled cookie, peanut butter, recipe

This week I turn 27, celebrate my 1st wedding anniversary, and I got a Lowe’s card. All of these things make me feel adult-ish…especially having a card solely for the use of home improvements and not for random shoes/clothes/jewels/dishware I want.

It’s kind of a big, weird week.

When I’m feeling weirded out and I don’t know what to do with myself, I default to the kitchen. I know what to do in there.

It’s my spot.

When I’m not sure what to bake, I usually go for cookies. They are hand held, portable, diverse little bites of goodness. When I’m not sure what I want I usually go for peanut butter or chocolate. In this case, I went for both.

Before I give you the recipe and send you running into the kitchen, let me tell you about the dough.

It be mad sticky yo.

For reals.

Mad sticky.

Since you have to roll it into balls and subsequently flatten and wrap them around the peanut butter filling, I suggest a bit of chillin’ in the refrigerator. A half an hour or more and things will be much more workable. The peanut butter guts, however, are pretty dry. No worries there.

You may be thinking, too much effort. It’s not. I promise. These cookies are so worth the (multiple!) chillings and the extra tender, loving, care.

Trust me. For serious.

Imagine this, brownie meets peanut butter. Brownie loves little old PB so much. Brownie give pb a hug and never lets go. Ever.

That’s what these cookies are. A tasty, chocolatey, peanut buttery hug.

Peanut Butter filled Chocolate Cookies aka Peanut Butter Ninjas

I saw this recipe a few months back and it was entitled Peanut Butter Ninjas–because of the secret PB middles. I bookmarked them and went about my life, but today I decided to make them. So, I dug up the link only to find it defunct. Double Damn. So, I did a quick search and found this recipe, after a little tweaking I came up with this. If you make these I implore you to not skip the chilling process, it will save you some stress and possible gray hairs. Also, when rolling I suggest having some flour or powdered sugar on hand to keep the stickiness to a minimum.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup confectioners sugar

granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer cream butter on medium speed. Add sugars and mix until creamy and incorporated. Add egg and vanilla and mix well, making sure to scrape the bowl.

Add dry ingredients to butter/sugar mixture and pulse mixer in short bursts until dough just comes together. Cover the bowl and place in refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix together peanut butter and confectioners sugar to combine. I find that gently microwaving the peanut butter (30 seconds or less) a little helps with incorporating the sugar. You should have a fairly firm peanut butter dough. Using a teaspoon, roll genrous spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture into balls. Place on a plate and put in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Once the cookie dough is chilled and workable, taking heaping tablespoons full of dough and roll into balls. Place on a plate and put in the freezer for 5-10 minutes until firm, but not frozen.

Remove cookie dough balls from freezer and peanut butter balls from refrigerator. Flatten cookie dough into disks and place a ball of peanut butter in the center. Wrap the edges of the cookie dough around the peanut butter filling and seal, and roll it into a uniform-ish ball. Place cookies on sheet pans and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand, sprinkle with granulated sugar if you like. Place the finished cookies on their pans back into the freezer for 5-10 more minutes–this will keep the cookies from spreading too much.

Remove cookies from freezer and bake for 10-12 minutes. the tops and edges should crackle a bit and dough will still be soft but dry to the touch, dough should not be overly gooey. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for a few minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.

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