These are the best chocolate peanut butter stuffed cookies you'll ever taste! The recipe starts with a simple, brownie-like, double chocolate cookie and is stuffed with a sweet peanut butter filling that tastes just like a buckeye!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
If you love the classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, you're going to love these peanut butter stuffed buckeye brownie cookies. They start with our fudgy, brownie-like, double chocolate cookies and are stuffed with a sweet, creamy peanut butter filling that tastes just like a Buckeye candy. They're easy to make, incredibly rich, and the perfect combination soft chocolate cookie and peanut butter goodness.
If you love a stuffed cookie, check out our chocolate chip marshmallow cookies, caramel apple oatmeal cookies, and our cookie monster cookies!
Ingredient Notes
Double Chocolate Cookies Ingredients
- Butter. Use Salted or unsalted butter. Butter is needed for the peanut butter filling and for the cookies.
- Salt. Salt balances the flavors.
- Brown Sugar. Light brown gives the double chocolate cookies a rich flavor and soft, chewy texture.
- Sugar. Use white, granulated sugar.
- Cocoa Powder. Use Dutch-processed cocoa for best results.
- Flour. Use all-purpose, white flour.
- Cornstarch. A little cornstarch keeps these cookies soft.
- Baking Soda. Baking soda is our leavening agent, helping the cookies rise and spread.
- Chocolate Chips. I use semi-sweet chocolate, but feel free to use milk or dark, as you prefer.
Peanut Butter Filling Ingredients
- Peanut Butter. Use creamy peanut butter. This works better with a peanut butter like jif or skippy, it does not work as well with natural peanut butter.
- Powdered Sugar. Powdered sugar sweetens and thickens the peanut butter filling.
- Vanilla. Vanilla adds a rich flavor.
- Salt. A little salt balances flavors
Peanut Butter Drizzle
- Peanut Butter. Use creamy peanut butter.
- Coconut Oil. Coconut oil will keep the drizzle smooth but help it set up when cool. You can substitute butter.
- White Chocolate. White chocolate will give this drizzle body and sweetness.
- Peanuts. Use salted, roasted peanuts.
How to Make this Recipe
Peanut Butter Filling:
- Melt Butter. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, then stir in the peanut butter until smooth.
- Add Powdered Sugar. Add half the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, mixing until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar and stir until you have a thick, filling, the consistency of cookie dough.
- Scoop & Freeze. Take teaspoons of the peanut butter filling, round it into balls, and press gently down flattening it slightly. Repeat until you've used all of the peanut butter filling up. Place on a tray in the freezer while you make the double chocolate cookie dough.
Double Chocolate Cookies + Assembly:
- Cream butter and sugars. Cream together butter and sugars for 1 minute, until smooth. Then add in eggs and vanilla, mixing on high 2-3 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients-cocoa powder, salt, cornstarch, flour-so there are no lumps. Then add it into the creamed butter mixture, mixing until there are no dry streaks, then stir in chocolate chips.
- Stuff the cookie dough. Take 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and flatten it in your hand. Place peanut butter disc in the center, wrapping the chocolate dough around the disc, sealing it in completely.
- Bake. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes. Cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before decorating.
- Drizzle. This is optional, but makes for an extra delicious and beautiful cookie. To prepare the peanut butter drizzle, add coconut oil, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips to microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 10-15 second increments, stirring in between until smooth. Drizzle over one half of each chocolate peanut butter stuffed cookie, immediately topping with some finely chopped peanuts. Let the drizzle set or pop the cookies in the fridge to speed up the process.
Expert Tips
Solution: Chill the dough. These chocolate peanut butter stuffed cookie dough tends to be super soft and sticky. Which is what makes these cookies so fudgy and brownie-like! But, it can make it difficult to work with, especially when you're handling the dough!
Chilling or freezing your double chocolate dough is the best thing you can do to make your dough firm up. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out and place it in the fridge for an hour (up to overnight).
Or, you can scoop you dough into your two tablespoon balls, cover them, and place them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes for a quicker chill.
Both of these solution will make the dough easier to work with and help them not spread as quickly in the oven.
Our buckeye brownies cookies like to spread. So make sure you give them plenty of space on the cookie sheet so they don't all run into each other when baking.
If the chocolate peanut butter cookies do end up spreading and running into each other while baking use a small metal spatula to gently separate the cookies and push them back in towards the center-do this all the way around the edges of the cookies to help reshape them back into a circle. This must be done immediately when they first come out of the oven while they are still hot and malleable.
It is listed right there in the ingredients, "Dutch-processed" cocoa, and I know some of you guys will think, "do I really need to use Dutch-processed? I've already got Hershey's natural cocoa in my pantry." So let me explain it for you and then you can make the decision for yourself.
Dutch-processed cocoa and natural cocoa and chemically different. Dutch-processed cocoa has been treated with alkali, making it more neutral on the pH scale. Natural cocoa is more acidic, meaning that it will react more strongly with the baking soda called for in the recipe, leading to a more dramatic spread in the cookies. And while we want the cookies to spread, this will cause the double chocolate cookies to spread too much.
Beyond the different chemical makeup of these cocoa powders, they actually do taste different. Dutch-processed cocoa has a deeper chocolatey flavor that is rich and smooth. Because it has been treated with alkali the bitterness associated with natural cocoa is neutralized. So in terms of flavor, Dutch-processed cocoa is the best choice.
Troubleshooting Your Peanut Butter Filling
The peanut butter cup filling for these cookies could not be any easier to make! Simply melt your butter, mix it with your peanut butter until smooth, and then add in your salt and vanilla. Then slowly add your powdered sugar a ½ cup at a time. You may not need all of your powdered sugar, which is why we add a little bit at a time. Your peanut butter filling should be thick like the consistency of fudge or cookie dough.
Too dry: Add a teaspoon of water and mix until you get the consistency you want.
Too wet: Add a little more powdered sugar! Add it ¼ cup at a time until the texture is just right
How to Store This Recipe
Room Temperature. These chocolate peanut butter stuffed cookies are best fresh. However, once cool, they should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They are best eaten within 3 days.
Freezing Cookies. To freeze these peanut butter brownies cookies, cool the cookies completely. Place in an airtight container, removing as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn, and freeze. They can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.
When ready to eat, let the cookies thaw on the counter until they return to room temperature
Freezing the Cookie Dough. These stuffed cookies can be frozen and baked at a later time. If you intend to freeze the dough, stuff the peanut butter filling into the double chocolate cookie dough, sealing it inside. Place on a small tray and freeze for 1 hour. After freezing, place in an airtight container and freeze. Use within three months.
When you are ready to bake your cookies, let the dough balls thaw at room temperature for 1 hour, then bake according to normal instructions. They may need an additional minute in the oven.
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling:
- 3 tablespoons butter (42 grams) melted (salted or unsalted)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter (128 grams) not natural
- 2 ¼ cups powdered sugar (280 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
Double Chocolate Cookies
- 1 cup butter (226 grams) room temperature, salted or unsalted
- 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar (250 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup cocoa powder (65 grams)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 grams) spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips (I used semisweet)
For Topping (Optional):
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil butter will work too
- 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts chopped finely
Instructions
Peanut Butter Filling:
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Mix in peanut butter until smooth.
- Add a ½ cup of powdered sugar, vanilla and salt, stir until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until you have a thick cookie dough consistency. You may not need all of the powdered sugar. if the peanut butter filling is too soft add more powdered sugar, if too dry, add 1 teaspoon of water to the filling at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Drop teaspoons full of dough onto a tray. Shape into a flat disc. Place in freezer while you prepare the cookie dough.
Double Chocolate Cookies and Assembly:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream together butter and both sugars for 1 minute. Then add eggs and beat on high for 2 minutes until color starts to pale slightly.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients-cocoa powder, salt, cornstarch, and baking soda. Add it to the wet mixture, mixing until just barely incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Take your ball of cookie dough (about 2 tablespoons of dough) and flatten it into a disc, place frozen frosting in the center of the dough and wrap the cookie dough around it sealing the peanut butter filling in.If you're dough is super sticky refrigerate or freeze dough for a 30 minutes before handling.
- Bake for 8-10minutes. Cool completely before decorating. If the cookies are spreading more than you'd like, place cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking.
- To prepare the peanut butter drizzle. add coconut oil, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips to microwave-safe bowl. . Microwave in 10-15 second increments, stirring in between until smooth.
- When cookies are cool, drizzle peanut butter glaze on half of cookies and then sprinkle chopped peanut on top. The glaze will set up with time, or pop the cookies in the refrigerator until set. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published September 12, 2018
Karen says
Loved these!