Magic in the Middle

Reese’s has run commercials about how the pairing of peanut butter and chocolate is perfection.  I agree.  These cookies are very similar.  You think it’s just chocolate, but when you bit into it… SURPRISE: Peanut Butter!

Begin by preheating the oven to 375˚F.  Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or spray lightly with grease.

To make the dough, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl, beat sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  I ran out of peanut butter because I made the filling first.  I made the cookies without the peanut butter, and they still tasted delicious.  

Add in vanilla and the egg, beating until combined.

Stir in dry ingredients, beating well.

To make the filling:  stir together the peanut butter and powdered sugar.  I used natural peanut butter which is much thicker than the regular peanut butter.  So, I added 2 tablespoons of water to thin it out a tad.  I seemed to have forgotten to take pictures of the filling.  You want it thick enough so it holds its shape but thin enough to stay together.

Now for the cookies.  Take a chunk of dough.  Roll into a ball.

Make a good sized intent in the center of the ball.

Take a chunk of peanut butter filling.  Roll the filling into a ball.  Place this in the center of the chocolate dough ball.

Shape the dough around the peanut butter filling.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Roll cookies in granulated sugar.

Place 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until they’re set and you can smell chocolate.

Remove from oven, and cool on a rack.

You’ll never know there is a secret surprise inside each of these delicious cookies.

Eat and enjoy!

Recipe from: King Arthur Flour

Recipe: Magic in the Middles

Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

I bought a can of natural peanut butter a month or two ago and have been dying to use it in recipes to no avail. (that’s me above if you didn’t know)

What is natural peanut butter? Just peanuts, no hydrogenated oil, sugar, or anything else.   You have to give a good stir before using it because it tends to separate. Natural peanut butter definitely tastes different but once you start eating it, you will realize how much better it is.

See the different texture. Well I’ve had my jar of natural peanut butter just calling me to make some delicious treat with it (you see that cute little bear on top).

I decided to make a recipe I have for chocolate peanut butter muffins, which are basically modified cupcakes because they are so sweet.

Begin by preheating the oven to 375˚F.  Line 12-14 muffin cups with paper liners.  This makes closer to 14 large muffins, so you may need two 12-count muffin tins.

Melt butter and 1/3 cup chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler.  Heating while stirring just until melted and smooth.  Set aside to cool. I used 60% cacao chocolate chips, which were extra rich. Use whatever you prefer.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together.

Add your liquid ingredients and the melted butter/chocolate mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix just until combined. Here’s Lisa helping me mix. She’s all smiles in the pictures, but she can be sassy, too.

Yummy chocolate.

Add the remaining chocolate chips (1/3 cup). Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans.

Now on to the peanut swirl topping, beat together the softened butter and peanut butter.

Stir in the milk and powdered sugar.  It will be clumpy, but it will taste delicious.

Drop this sinful mixture by spoonfuls on top of each uncooked muffin.  Use a knife or fork to swirl it and separate it out from one big chunk into smaller chunks.

Bake for about 20 minutes.  Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, and then dig in.  (I warned you to wait, so if you get impatient and eat one hot, and burn your tongue, don’t blame me).

Recipe from: Cate’s World Kitchen

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread

Do you remember the Espresso Cupcakes?  Well, I do because what’s not to love about chocolate and espresso.  These two awesome flavors join forces to create a lovely cookie.

I’m back at college, so I’m working with limited resources.  You’ll see later all of the examples of this throughout the post.  Who hasn’t had one of those moments when they need some key ingredient or important gadget?

Mix one tablespoon of espresso powder with a tablespoon of boiling water.  Let the espresso steep until it cools. Feel free to use strongly brewed coffee or espresso in place just just 2 tablespoons of either.

I brought lots of random ingredients with me to college in little plastic baggies including espresso powder.  No I’m not a drug dealer, I’m just bringing some sodium bicarbonate to college.  (P.S. Sodium bicarbonate is common baking soda)

Begin by mixing together the 2 sticks of butter and powdered sugar.

It would be great to have a had a mixer but this is college.  I had to mix it all by hand.  It’s best to have softened butter.  I took the butter out of the fridge 1 hour before I was ready to bake.  Don’t worry if you forget to prepare ahead of time, I always always always forget.  Put the butter in the microwave on the lowest power level for 20-40 seconds (depending on the strength of your microwave).

My home microwave melts my butter in 10 seconds where the college microwave tookover 40 seconds.  Play around with yours because you never want melted butter in your recipe that doesn’t call for it.  But, on the other hand, when you’re mixing by hand, harder butter means more elbow grease. Great for those buff crew arms I’m trying to build.

Mix the butter until it is all smooth, and there are no chunks.  By hand: 5 minutes, by mixer: 3 minutes on medium.

Here’s where the butter is incorporated with the sugar but there are still visible chunks.  You don’t want butter chunks in your cookies. →

Here the butter is all mixed in sans chunks. Ready for the next step. ↓

Add the espresso mixture and the vanilla.You can see striations of butter (I hope I used striations right, it sounded good?).  This step helps magnify the butter clumps, keep stirring to  incorporate all of these.

Add the flour just until it’s all mixed in.  Don’t overmix or you will get tough cookies instead of chewy, gooey cookies.

Add the chocolate chips.  I brought chocolate chips from home to college (my tight budget college mind).  But of course, I had them in my car for 6 hours on the drive up to college and in my room for a few days.  When I was gathering up my ingredients, I discovered my chocolate chips were no longer chocolate chips, but instead one giant chocolate chip all melted together.

So I had my lovely friend, Karen, chop it up for me into bite sized pieces.

Add the chocolate pieces to the dough and mix just until incorporated.

Look at the soft, tasty dough.

Place the delicious sticky dough into a gallon bag. Use a rolling pin or your hands (for those lacking key

gadgets). Pat or roll until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick.

Put in the fridge for 2 hours or in the freezer for 25 minutes.

Remove from the cold unit.  Preheat your oven to 325˚F.  Cut in squares.  Put on a greased baking sheet.  Of course, our kitchen had no baking sheets.  (We just got our lovely old house renovated so I had to trade baking sheets for new windows and insulation to prevent frostbite in the winter).  The sacrifices I make.

Use a fork to poke holes in the cookies.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.  The cookies will harden a little more after they come out of the oven.  If you want softer cookies, bake for 15 minutes.  For crunchier shortbread, 18 minutes.

Enjoy these delectable shortbread with a glass of milk.  You’ll taste the intense coffee flavor while your tongue feels the melting chocolate.   Finally, you’ll taste that smooth buttery flavor characteristic of shortbread (2 sticks of butter will do that).

Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Recipe:Chocolate Espresso Shortbread

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies were scrumptious.  This recipe was published on Dessert First, named World Peace Cookies because they supposedly could spread world peace, they’re that good.  (Sorry, for the run-on, incorrect grammar, etc).  They were good, but not that good.  I’m not sure any dessert is that good, but let me know if you find something.  We should be willing to try anything.

These peaceful cookies are just chocolate cookies with chocolate chunks (evidenced from the post title).

Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy.  Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla and beat for a few minutes.  Add flour mixture, and mix until just incorporated.  Overbeating makes for bad cookies.

Divide the dough in half.  Press each half into a log with a 1 1/2 in. diameter.  I didn’t divide mine in half, and just made one long log.  Whatever, you wish.

Wrap the logs in plastic wrap.  Put in the fridge for at least 1 hour or for up to 3 days.  I put mine in the freezer for 30 minutes because I was in a time crunch.  You can also freeze the dough (make sure it’s tightly wrapped) for up to 3 months.

Preheat the oven to 325˚F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats.  Cut the logs into 1/2 in. thick rounds.  The logs will far apart, just piece them back together.  Put the cookies on the sheet.  Here they are just after they went into the oven.    

Bake for 12 minutes.  They will look undone, but they will continue cooking on the hot baking sheet.  Bake too long, and they will be crunchy.  Bake for 12 minutes and they will be soft and chewy.  Eat warm or after they cool.

Here is the deliciousness up close.

I took these to a party and left one lonely cookie for my dad.  Here’s the container for my party, and the cookie for my dad.  Don’t feel bad for him.  He’s on a diet, so I keep him in check.

Here are some pictures of my friends enjoying the delicious cookies.  Thanks, Maggie and Scott.

These cookies were chocolately, soft, and delicious.

Recipe from Dessert First

Recipe: Chocolate-Chunk Cookies