soft peanut butter and chocolate cookies
Makes: about 2 dozen
Prep Time: 30 minutes (includes chilling time)
Total Time: 1 hour (plus time to cool)
1/2 cup gluten free baking blend for muffins & quick breads
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup plus 1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces
2 Tablespoons unsweetened butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1. Prep Pans: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk flour blend, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, table salt and baking soda together until well blended. Set bowl aside.
3. Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar, 2 eggs, coffee powder and vanilla together until combined.
4. Melt Chocolate: In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate pieces and 2 Tablespoons butter, stirring often, until smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute or so.
5. Add Chocolate to Egg Mixture: Whisk the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until combined.
6. Fold in Dry Mix: Fold in flour mixture until no dry streaks remain.
7. Chill Dough: Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill while you make peanut butter batter.
8. Make Peanut Butter Batter: In a medium bowl using a hand held mixer, combine the remaining 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg and 1 cup peanut butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer to refrigerator to chill until both chocolate batter and peanut butter batter are firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
9. Preheat Oven: Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
10. Combine Batters: Transfer peanut butter batter to the bowl with the chocolate batter in 4 or 5 dollops. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the chocolate mixture from the sides of the bowl and fold into the peanut butter mixture, being careful to combine evenly with streaks of chocolate and peanut butter swirled together.
11. Form Cookies: Using a 2 Tablespoon dough scoop and being careful to get both chocolate and peanut butter as evenly as you can, measure out dough and roll into 12 balls with your clean hands. Transfer dough balls to prepared sheet evenly spaced about 2 inches apart, 12 on the sheet. Transfer unused dough back to refrigerator to chill.
12. Bake Cookies: Transfer sheet to oven and bake until cookies are puffed and cracked at the edges, about 15 minutes. (They will look raw in the middle but they will finish cooking on the sheet.) Transfer to a wire rack.
13. Form Cookies: Form the remaining chilled dough into balls as before and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes as before. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
14. Cool & Serve: Let cookies cool completely on sheet before serving. Enjoy.
