Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudgies

 I have officially finished my second year of teaching! Those of you who don't know me have no idea how exciting that really is. This year was a tough one for me...I'm not going to go into details because I don't want to relive it, but the important thing is cookies! On my last official duty day at my school, I took about 6 dozen cookies for the staff as a sort of thank you for everything they have done for me. I'm very thankful to each and everyone of them and I don't know how to show appreciation better than cooking or baking. I had a tough time choosing cookies, but this specific cookie was requested by my co-teacher.

These cookies are amazing if you are looking for something with chocolate, peanut butter, and a fudge texture. If you make them really well, you won't even see the peanut butter; it's like a little surprise when you bite in. I don't remember when I found them but I'm glad I did. Jenny Flake over at Picky Palate knew what she was doing.

I recommended these cookies to a friend and she called me the next day saying these cookies changed her life. She has decided that these cookies are a life-changing event and that everything in her life will now be B.C. (before the cookies) and A.C. (after the cookies). She also informed me how messy these cookies were to make :) If you don't mind a little mess, please make these cookies!

Time: 30ish minutes
Ingredients
1 cup peanutbutter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

2 sticks softened butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 TBS vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper...or grease it lightly, your choice.

First we will prepare the peanut butter filling. Mix up the peanut butter and sugar and then mix in the eggs. Combine until smooth and set it aside.

Now for the chocolate dough. Cream the butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla in a large mixing bowl with a stand mixer or hand beater. Next, slowly mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Finally add in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips until it is just combined. I recommend using a wooden spoon or spatula to stir and nothing plastic...it is pretty dense. Once you have mixed it place it in the fridge for a little bit. You don't have to do this, but I think it helps.

Now comes the fun messy part of assembling the cookies. There are a couple different ways you could assemble them. The original poster used three balls of dough and then squished them all together. I used one big disc of dough and a smaller. I will detail how I did it. Use a large cookie scoop or spoon to scoop a chunk of chocolate dough into your hand. (You might want to spray your hands with cooking spray first, but I didn't.) Flatten the dough in your hand and then use a small scoop or spoon to dish up some peanut butter dough into the middle of your flattened chocolate dough.

Now roll it up into a ball, hiding the peanut butter dough inside the chocolate. It's more fun that way.

 

 Place your chocolatey goodness on your prepared pans about and inch apart and squish them down until they are about 1/4" thick.

I forgot to squish them down before I snapped a picture...

Put your pan in the oven and let them bake for about 16 minutes or until they are set. When they are ready, let them set on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then take them off.

 These are fantastic warm, but are also very tasty cool. These last for quite a few days if stored in tupperware and are fantastic as the outside of ice cream cookie sandwiches! Enjoy!

 Original source: http://picky-palate.com/2011/06/06/chocolate-fudge-peanut-butter-cookie-stuffed-cookies/

Slutty Brownies....Finally!

So looking at my blog, I can see that I have not posted since the beginning of April...it is now towards the end of May. That lack of activity can be attributed to a hectic schedule. But, school is over for the year! The end of the year is a time of ridiculous crazyness, but it is over! To catch up, I have ended my last year as a Kindergarten Dual-Language teacher and will be teaching K-6 Spanish in a different district. As for TBDH, he is still figuring out what he wants to do. Currently is is interning with a computer repair service and looking for jobs. We will see what happens.
As school was coming to an end, I decided I needed to take something special to the staff. These brownies seemed perfect. Oreos were on sale and I had an idea. I found these Slutty Brownies on Pintrest from several different sources, but they were all essentially the same. One source actually did give some reason for the name. She says that these are easy and just a little bit dirty. One source also called them Lasagna Brownies, but I'm a fan of the Slutty moniker. I tried making these brownies once and they turned out pretty good, but I knew they could be better. I tried a second time but they weren't as good as the first time. So I had an idea to help these reach their full potential. Essentially these brownies are cookie dough, Oreo, and brownie. The first and second time I made these I discovered the cookie dough bakes much faster than the brownie, creating a drier crust and with a very moist top. I was hoping for more moisture in the cookie layer too.
My brilliant idea was to make these in muffin tins instead of a large pan! Brilliant, right?! It's not that exciting until to taste them. So moist and delicious. You must try these!

Time: 40 minutes
Makes about 2.5 dozen brownies with extra cookie dough
Ingredients
Full recipe of your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough (I use the Nestle Tollhouse recipe for these, with slight alteration)
Brownie batter (I'm a fan of Betty Crocker's Fudge Brownie Mix)
1 package of Oreos

Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
1 stick of soften butter
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cup chocolate chips

Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies
1 brownie mix
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375

For the cookies
Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until all combined. Beat in the two eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until all is mixed. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Let that sit aside while you make the brownie batter and try to not eat all the dough. Cookie dough is my weakness...

For the Brownies
Combine brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs until all the mix is moistened. It's ok if their are some lumps.

Assembly
You can either line muffin tins with papers or spray them very well with cooking spray. Press cookie dough into each muffin well until it is about half full. Next, press an Oreo into each well.

Finally, top the wells off with brownie batter until the Oreos are covered.

Place the deliciousness into the oven for 16-18 minutes or until brownie top is done. Let the pan cool for about 5-10 minutes before lifting the liners out. If not using liners, let the brownies cool even longer before trying to remove them. You can let them cool completely before eating them, but you might as well try one while they are warm. I have also heard these are good with vanilla ice cream on top, but I never make it that far. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture of this sliced open...it's beautiful when you see the layers.

I was testing liners vs. non-liners..both are amazing :)