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Peanut Butter Black and Tan Cookies

February 28, 2017 by Joy the Baker 38 Comments

When you grow up in a family of very enthusiastic eaters, you come to realize that everyone has their own preferred flavor.

My flavor was strawberry.  I like strawberry just fine but I think the obsession stemmed back to an early Strawberry Shortcake fascination and just stuck. 

My dad’s flavor was vanilla… kept safe because no one wanted to fight him for boring vanilla.

My mom’s flavor was peanut butter and chocolate.  Two flavors really… but when you’re the mom you get to make up the rules.  

My sister’s flavor was… I dunno, maybe buttermilk biscuit… because she was always eating those in heaps.

Your preferred flavor is what appears on your birthday, when you bring home a good report card, or when you graduate from one thing or another.  It’s these little traditions that keep families in line, and gives order and reason to family celebrations. 

If all falls into this reasoning, these Peanut Butter Black and Tan Cookies are my mom’s and she can share but only if she wants to.  

They’re cakey peanut butter cookies (yes, just let it happen) are topped with a glossy dark chocolate and a creamy peanut butter frosting.  A classic Black and White Cookie gone tan with peanut butter. Max out on flavor because it is a very fine idea, especially with chocolate. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

•  Softened butter, granulated sugar, and creamy peanut butter.  I used a peanut butter blended with palm oil, admittedly.  Not the super natural sort. Rather it’s that pleasingly blended / super spreadable peanut butter.  Guilty pleasure.  It adds just the right texture and fat to these cookies.

•  Eggs, vanilla, buttermilk to bind, flavor, and moisten our batter.

•  Flour, baking soda, and salt to work their cookie magic. 

Butter is creamed to fluffy along with creamy peanut butter and sugar.  

It’s key here that the butter be very well softened or it won’t properly incorporate into the peanut butter.  Essentially I’m saying, follow the rules… this one makes a difference. 

Eggs are beaten into the batter, one at a time until the mixture in beautifully fluffy and creamed. 

The dry ingredients are added to the wet, and buttermilk is streamed into the batter, bringing it all together. 

The batter will resemble a thick and scoopable cake batter.  I used a large cookie scoop to scoop about 1/4-cup of batter onto a parchment lined sheet.

Here’s some things to know:

•  Parchment paper will be your salvation when it comes to this recipe.  Better than foil, better than an unlined non-stick baking sheet… go for the parchment!

•  The cookies spread so they’ll need about 2-inches on all sides to do their thing. 

•  The bottoms of these cookies are actually the top so if you’re baking two sheets at a time, it’s a good idea to alternate them on the racks halfway through baking for even browning. 

While the cookies cool, we’ll make the peanut butter frosting and chocolate glaze.  

Here’s how we do.  

Bottoms up, frost half of the bottom with chocolate frosting and the other half with glossy chocolate glaze.  Allow the cookies to sit and rest.  The glazey tops will crust over a bit, making them easier to individually wrap in plastic. 

Cakey and sweet.  Chocolate and peanut butter. You can’t go wrong, ask my mom.  They’re as satisfying and delicious as you think. That’s for certain! 

Peanut Butter Black and Tan Cookies

makes 12 large cookies

For the Cookies:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

For the Chocolate Glaze:

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips of pieces

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon corn syrup

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

splash of pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons heavy cream (plus more if necessary to make the frosting spreadable)

To make the cookies, 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.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and electric hand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and peanut butter until well combined, thick, and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating into the batter for 1 minute after each egg addition.  Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.  

Add the wet ingredients all at once to the butter mixture and beat on low speed.  Stream in the buttermilk and beat until all of the flour disappears into the batter.  Remove the bowl from the stand mixer (or set aside the beaters) and finish incorporating the dough with a spatula, making sure that everything is well combined.  

The batter will resemble a fluffy, thick cake batter.

Use a large cookie scoop to scoop batter mounds onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2-inches of space between each cookie.  Each cookie is a scant 1/4 cup.  Just less than 1/4 cup.  

Bake until cookies are golden around the edges and spread out, about 13 to 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting. 

To make the chocolate glaze, in a heatproof bowl combine chocolate, butter, and corn syrup.  Bring a medium size pan with two inches of water to a simmer. Place the heatproof bowl over the simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the simmering water. We’re creating a double boiler.  Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is glossy. Set aside to cool just slightly before glazing the cookies.

To make the peanut butter glaze, in a medium bowl combine peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of cream.  Slowly begin to stir together until the powdered sugar begins to combine.  Add more cream as necessary to create a smooth and speadable frosting. 

To assemble the cookies, make sure the cookies are completely cool. Flip the cookies so the bottom side is facing up. We’ll frost the bottoms. Spread chocolate glaze over half of the cookie.  Spread peanut butter frosting over the other half.  Allow to rest so the glaze hardens a bit on the top for about 30 minutes.  Wrap individually in plastic wrap to store. 

 

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa

    March 1, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    I’m assuming oven temp is 350 F ?

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      March 2, 2017 at 11:55 am

      Yes, that’s right!

      Reply
      • Lisa

        March 2, 2017 at 8:15 pm

        Thanks! Just finished frosting … and sampling :-) I love that they are not overly sweet (the only change I made was using dark chocolate because it’s my favourite). These are great snacking cookies. I can’t wait for coffee break tomorrow.

        Reply
    • Lauren Johnson

      March 3, 2017 at 4:01 pm

      These look good! Mmmm Peanut butter and chocolate is my Mom’s flavor too.

      Reply
  2. dinner everyday

    March 1, 2017 at 9:52 am

    My grandfather loved black and white cookies – I will happily make this new flavor in his honor!

    I love black cherry flavor. Or hot fudge. Or salted caramel…too hard to choose!

    Reply
  3. Jenna

    February 28, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    What an awesome idea! I love black and white cookies and this is an awesome variation. Peanut butter and chocolate is a great combo :)

    Reply
  4. Lidia

    February 28, 2017 at 6:54 pm

    can i omit the corn syrup?

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      March 2, 2017 at 11:57 am

      I think omitting the corn syrup will make the chocolate less glossy and spreadable. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

      Reply
  5. moboyle

    February 28, 2017 at 5:15 pm

    Where are you coming when you come to New York?!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      March 2, 2017 at 11:57 am

      I believe I’ll be at Rizolli Bookstore. Confirming now and I’ll keep the book tour page updated!

      Reply
  6. pinchofdelight

    February 28, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    These look so good!
    I love the idea of a peanut butter frosting. x
    Izzy |https://www.pinchofdelight.com

    Reply
  7. Sweet Tea Sweetie

    February 28, 2017 at 2:09 pm

    Yum! Those look so delicious!
    Kari
    https://sweetteasweetie.com/

    Reply
  8. Ann

    February 28, 2017 at 8:56 am

    We got to pick dinner on our birthdays and didn’t have to do any chores :) I can’t wait to make these – I may get fancy and sprinkle some chopped peanuts on the chocolate side and a few cacao nibs on the peanut butter side.

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      February 28, 2017 at 5:10 pm

      Special dinner and no chores is such a great birthday!

      Reply
  9. Rachel

    February 28, 2017 at 8:50 am

    I didn’t think the black and white cookie could be improved, but you just proved me wrong. I was on the hunt for some sort of chocolate peanut butter cookie to make this weekend and these are perfect!

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      February 28, 2017 at 5:12 pm

      Let me know how you like them Rachel!

      Reply
  10. Jessica

    February 28, 2017 at 8:36 am

    Why has it taken so long for someone to do this!? Genius, Joy!

    Reply
  11. Liz

    February 28, 2017 at 7:05 am

    Oh YUM! Peanut butter and chocolate are my absolute favs! (I just saw a chocolate bunny in the store being sold with a little container of JIF peanut butter – can’t get better than that). Will definitely be trying these.

    Reply
  12. Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding

    February 28, 2017 at 4:09 am

    I think my childhood favourite must have been mint choc chip but we always seemed to have a tub of cheap Neapolitan ice cream in the freezer since it catered to at least three different tastes. It was pretty magical as a kid to have one scoop of ice cream with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry all intertwined. And yes to cheapo peanut butter, sometimes you want that stuff slathered on toast to comfort you.

    https://victoriaspongepeasepudding.com/

    Reply
  13. saacdl

    February 28, 2017 at 3:37 am

    Uhoh, I’m afraid I’m boring too – I always chose vanilla! Or white chocolate. Is that a flavour? However, nowadays I’m all about allllll the flavours – and I love peanut butter! These look delicious!

    Reply
  14. Rena

    February 28, 2017 at 3:16 am

    I never can resist peanut butter and cookies with peanut butter are even better :)
    Thanks for sharing!
    xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
    http://www.dressedwithsoul.com

    Reply
  15. francetaste

    February 28, 2017 at 2:18 am

    Whenever a kid asks my husband what his favorite color is, he always says “green with pink dots,” which always throws the kid for a loop, like “I didn’t know we could have options like THAT!” And you can see the wheels of the little mind churning.
    Two great tastes that taste great together….
    I could see adding chocolate chips to get some chocolate onto the peanut butter side. Just a few.

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      February 28, 2017 at 5:14 pm

      That’s actually really sweet and made me smile!

      Reply
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