Some things change: the city I live in / the friends I visit on a lazy weekend / the view from my living room window / my mega longing for California Mexican food / the frequency with which I eat fried oyster po’boys.
Some things stay the same: the endless amount of cookies coming from my oven / my desire to eat every doughnut in town (any town) / my fear of spiders large and small / the hope that you’ll invite me to your house so I can share this giant batch of Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies with you and maybe make a few new friends in the process.
Crisp. Golden. Peanut Butter-y Cookies. AKA How To Make New Friends And Not Be A Weirdo At A Pool Party.
Edible social tools are my specialty.
I wasn’t sure how to tell you that I have a brick-red wall in my dining room so I just took a picture of it. Ok? Ok.
Because the Internet is old and already filled with recipes for Peanut Butter Cookies, we’re going to have to kick it up a notch. We’re adding sex appeal, glossy drugs, and Pin-able charm AKA chocolate (melted, bittersweet, and salted up a bit).
Butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and peanut butter are worked together in a stand mixer. The result is a beautifully cream half-batter that you’ll probably want to aggressively spoon into your face. Right?
Dry ingredients into wet. I always like the middle stages of baking.
The dough is chilled a bit to allow the flour to absorb the liquid of the butter mixture and to just give all of the ingredients a chance to get to know each other. You know… make acquaintance before they all jump in the oven together.
Dough balls are rolled by the tablespoonful into granulated sugar. Extra crunch we love.
Cookies are marked with a criss-cross (jump! jump!) pattern before they’re baked up golden and crisp.
While the cookies are in the oven we melt chocolate and coconut oil, chop up the honey roasted peanuts, and ready the coarse sea salt for sprinkling.
These cookies are sweet and crisp… almost shortbread in nature. There’s a lovely balance of sweet and salt both in the cookie and in the toppings.
I love melted my dipping chocolate with a splash of coconut oil and it helps the chocolate’s viscosity and dip-ability.
Comfort cookies! Wait… aren’t all cookies comfort cookies?
This recipe is inspired by and adapted from Leite’s Culinaria. Love!
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Dipped + Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for coating
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
For the Topping:
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chunks
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons coarse sea salt
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped honey roasted peanuts, chopped
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed. Beat for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract egg and beat on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until just combined.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring that all of the wet ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients all at once. Beat on low speed until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish mixing with a spatula. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- While the cookie dough chills, preheat the oven.
- Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place about 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl for coating the dough. Spoon cookie dough by the tablespoonful into the palm of your hand. Gently roll into a ball and coat in sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet and use a fork to mark the cookies with a cross-hatch pattern. Place cookies on the sheet about 1-inch apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir until completely smooth and combined. Place in a small but deep bowl for dipping. Place the salt and chopped peanuts in separate bowls near your dipping area. Dip the cookies halfway into the melted chocolate. Place on a parchment lined tray. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and a bit of sea salt. Place in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate. I bagged my cookies up and store them in the refrigerator. Delicious!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Love that chocolate dip, cookie perfection!
Shikha la mode
These cookies are very nostalgic looking and I love that. Plus, can’t go wrong with chocolate!
Dirk
When you bring these along you could knock on my door anytime :) That would be a long trip though.
Greetings from Germany
Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures
I wish I lived near you so stop by and eat some of these cookies! Dipping them in chocolate was a good decision!
Isabelle
These sound and look heavenly!! I love shortbread AND I love peanut butter cookies, so the minute you said “almost shortbread…” I started drooling ;)
Beautiful!
Isabelle @ Head Red & Blondi
tara
Please come to my house and make these cookies! I would love it. I would love it love it love it!
thedahliascene
I would for sure invite you over if you brought me some of those not dipped in chocolate. I love nothing more than a crunchy peanut butter cookie. I’d gladly introduce you to my oatmeal lemon or oatmeal orange cookies.
Karen
Oh goodness do I love peanut butter cookies. The only problem that I see is that it looks like a small batch. My three guys would string me up if I didn’t make a double batch. Ok, now I really want to go make some. I would come by and have some of your cookies but I live in Oregon.
Amanda S.
These look incredible! Yum!!
xo Amanda
https://theluxelion.blogspot.com
sprophet
Well you are more than welcome to come to my house with these cookies anytime. My mouth is watering! Then, we can go grab some good Californian Mexican grub, I’m in Los Angeles :-)
kristonlion
Yasssssss! Jump! Jump! (You are awesome)
Jesse Owen
These look delicious – I have to admit I’ve never tried peanut butter cookies before but I think I’m going to have to now! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Nicole
Hi Joy! I’m a LONG time fan and almost-never commenter but I have to ask, what and where do I eat for a quick weekend get away to LA? I thought you’d be the perfect person to ask because 1) you love food 2) you’ve never ever steered me wrong in my baking expeditions (faves include sweet potato pie, that easy crumbley crisp thing from last week and quite possibly these insane looking cookies) 3) you’re from LA. Just to give your recommendations a bit more guidance my husband and I are particularly fond of fresh Mexican, good margaritas and desserts. Now what can I simply not miss during 3 days in LA?!?!
joythebaker
LA is suuuch a big place it can be hard to navigate and see everything there is to see! i wrote about some of my favorite LA spots here: https://joythebaker.com/2012/10/i-love-you-los-angeles/ Enjoy your visit! It’s pretty rad!
Kristin
These look amazing!
Anne
I don’t have a stand mixer. Will an electric hand mixer work as well?
joythebaker
absolutely!