Late last week I received a ginormous package from Reese’s. The box looked like a giant pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which I thought was a cute idea. I was imagining that a load of Reese’s goodies would spill out once I opened the box, but actually there is an assortment of things inside. There were three packs of the classic peanut butter cups and three packs of their NutRageous bars, and then this adorable candy-wrapper shaped USB.
Most importantly, inside was an invitation to the #RediscoveReese’s Throwback Festival on August 2nd. It will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall, open to the public starting at 12 noon, and ending with a mini concert at 6pm.
I won’t be able to make it due to prior commitments but if you’re looking for something to do this Saturday then you might want to come to this event. Reese’s promises an afternoon of fun, games, and prizes, and I have no doubt they will follow through. Pretty sure this is a good chance for all you Reese’s lovers to go home with a stash of their different candy bars!
What I love about Reese’s Peanut Butter cups is the fact that it combines two of my favourite things, which are chocolate and peanut butter. It’s funny that I would say that now, because as a kid I really abhorred peanut butter. Now I eat it to power me before a workout, and I come up with any excuse to eat some more, sometimes even settling for peanut butter covered bananas. I’m not the type of person who eats stuff from the jar so I always have to spread it on something– anything really.
The problem I have with eating Reese’s is I can only tolerate small doses of milk chocolate at a time. I can’t eat more than one piece of Reese’s without feeling like I swallowed glue. Milk chocolate tends to leave this terrible stickiness in my throat. But because I like this chocolate and peanut butter confection so much I even consider making my own at home with bittersweet chocolate. But today is not that day, because today I got a recipe for you that is essentially a not-as-sweet Reese Peanut Butter Cup in cookie form.
Magic in the Middle. That’s what these cookies are called. And I couldn’t have thought of a better name.
I’m going to keep this post brief because I’m not particularly happy with my cookie photos. I dug these up from my photo archives so they’re quite different from the photos I’ve learned to take lately. But since they are old photos of a recipe that deserves to be shared, I’m going to let it slide. My perfectionist tendencies will have to take the backseat for now.
So these cookies are pretty self-explanatory. Peanut butter enveloped in a chocolate cookie. They look kind of like crinkles at a glance, but one bite will reveal the surprise filling inside. My favourite part about making these was when I was flattening the cookie balls with a glass. Squishyyy.
Not only were these cute, I thought the chocolate cookie portion is just fantastic! It’s of the deep chocolate, crunchy-outside-chewy-inside variety. So so good. The filling however can be a bit sweet depending on how much sugar you add to it. I used a scant half cup of confectioner’s sugar- already less than the quantity mentioned in the original recipe- and I still thought it could use a little less, so it would probably best to cut down to only 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar for the filling. That’s what I’m doing next time for sure.
Magic in the Middles
Makes about 20 to 24 cookies
Ingredients
For the chocolate dough*
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
For the peanut butter filling
- ¾ cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
- ¾ cup confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Make the chocolate dough
- 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- 3. In another medium-sized bowl, beat together the sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg, beating to combine.
- 4. Finally, stir in the dry ingredients using a spatula, until well-blended.
Make the filling
- 5. In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and confectioner's sugar until smooth.
Assemble the cookies
- 6. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough and roll into approximately 1-1/4 inch balls until all the dough has been used up. With floured hands or a teaspoon scoop, roll the peanut butter filling into one-inch balls an equal quantity to the chocolate dough balls.
- 6. Take one chocolate ball and make an indentation in the center with two fingers, then place one of the peanut butter balls into the indentation. Alternately, you can also flatten the chocolate balls gently and then place a peanut butter ball in the center.
- 7. Bring the sides of the chocolate dough up and over the filling, pressing the edges together to cover the center. Roll the cookie in the palms of your hand to smooth it out. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
- 8. Roll each rounded cookie in granulated sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
- 9. Grease the bottom of a drinking glass and use it to flatten each cookie to about 1/2-inch thick.
- 10. Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes, or until set and you can smell the chocolate emanating from the cookies. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack. The cookies will be soft while hot but will firm up once cool. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Notes
I know mine does. 🙂
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions stated above are my own.
