"Magic in the Middle"

Alright, I have seen these cookies on a couple of blogs now and they looked so cute I had to try them (well that and I am a bit of sucker for anything with chocolate and peanut butter), so I hunted down the original King Arthur Flour recipe and got to work.

Below is the recipe with my notes:
Recipe from King Arthur Flour, Pictures from my kitchen

Chocolate Dough:
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for dredging)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Peanut Butter Filling (I had leftover filling, and plenty in the cookies, so next time I may cut this down to 2/3 cup each).
¾ cup peanut butter
¾ cup icing sugar

1. In a mixer, combine the sugars, peanut butter and butter, mixing until creamy. Add the vanilla and egg, mix until well combined.
2. In another bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing until well combined and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl mix the peanut butter and icing sugar together until smooth.
4. Using a teaspoon, or a teaspoon cookie scoop, make teaspoon sized balls of the filling (should make about 26 balls – I had leftovers).
5. Using a tablespoon (or tablespoon sized cookie scoop) scoop out about a tablespoon of the chocolate dough. Using your fingers make an indent in the dough into which you place a ball of the filling. Then fold the sides of the chocolate dough up and around the filling. Roll into a round ball and roll the ball in sugar. (For good step by step pictures go here )
Note: I did several of the chocolate balls at a time, added the peanut butter balls to each of them and then folded them and rolled into a ball.


6. Place the cookies on a sheet and flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 375 for 7 to 9 minutes and let cook on a rack.

Note: The dough got dry on me and was hard to work with so I added a couple tablespoons of milk and it worked great!

Reviews:
These cookies were delicious, and while it looks like it is a lot of work, it really didn’t seem to bad. I couldn’t stop eating these cookies and had to get them out of the house. My boss told me that they were “like magic”, and everyone at my meeting said they were great. My husband’s hockey team also really enjoyed these and he game out with no leftovers (thankfully).

I will definitely be making these cookies again!