Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Danielle is back with another mouth watering recipe! Learn more about her below, after you check out this amazing recipe, of course!

When my husband was in the NFL I used to bake all kinds of things for their offensive meetings. These cookies were by far the most popular and I still get requests to this day from the guys for them... In fact, that's where this batch went to! They're really easy to make, although they do take a bit of time because there's three different phases to them and they have to set between each one, but they're well worth the effort. The creamy and sweet peanut butter filling gets sandwiched in between two crunchy peanut butter cookies and then the whole thing gets dipped and drizzled in chocolate.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (divided)

1 cup granular sugar

1 large egg (at room temperature)

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

8 oz. semisweet Baker's Chocolate

Any time I am baking I like to get out every single ingredient I'm going to need for the recipe, no matter how many or how few there are. That way not only am I ready to go once I start, I know I have everything that I'm going to need. There's nothing worse than being right in the middle of a recipe and realizing you're missing an ingredient.

Preheat oven to 350° and line two baking sheets with Silpat mats or parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, 1/2 cup of the peanut butter, the sugar and the egg. Slowly add in the flour mixture until the cookie dough forms.

Scoop out 1 tablespoon size balls of the dough and put about 9 on each sheet. If you don't care if the cookies look perfect, then just flatten the dough balls a little with your palm before baking. If you want smooth cookies that are more uniform in size then press the dough balls into a 2 inch ring mold. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes until lightly golden brown, let cool on a wire rack.

While the cookies are cooling, make the filling by mixing the confectioner's sugar with the remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter. I put the filling in a piping bag with a star tip, but again if you don't care what they look like you can just fill them using a spatula. I like to take the cookies, pair them up and lay the pairs bottom side up on a baking sheet. Then I put the filling on one cookie and press the other one over it making it a sandwich. 

Stick the baking sheet in the fridge to help the filling set up a bit (otherwise the top cookie will just slide off of the bottom one). While those are chilling, cut up the chocolate and set up a double boiler. You can make your own double boiler by filling a medium saucepan with about 2 inches of water and setting a heatproof bowl on top of it, then put on medium high heat. Put the chocolate in the double boiler and melt, stirring constantly until smooth. Dip about a quarter of each "sandwich" in the melted chocolate, let the excess drip off and set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use the rest of the chocolate to drizzle over the entire cookie. Let set in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. 

Let's find out more about Danielle(a beautiful gal, who is an old pal of mine from high school):

I'm Danielle from Buffalo, NY. I live in Hamburg with my husband Christian and two miniature pinschers, Weezy and Sebastian. I started baking when I was young, mostly with my grandmother around the holidays. My love and skills for it grew as I got older, turning into a full-time passion when my husband was in the NFL. I started baking cookies for the team for Christmas, which soon turned in to all year round requests for treats! In the last couple years I've become obsessed with all things French cuisine an have started cooking much more, but baking will always be where my heart is!

Recipe Wednesday: Goat Cheese, Walnut and Cranberry Canapes

 Last week, Danielle garnered praise for her delicious Brie En Croute. This week, something just as delectable.

GOAT CHEESE, WALNUT AND CRANBERRY CANAPES

This recipe is great because it's easily split in half or even doubled in order to accommodate the number of people it needs to serve. It's nice and light, which makes it perfect for a summer appetizer. The tartness of the cranberries and the lemony taste of the thyme go perfectly with the creamy goat cheese, and the walnuts add a perfect crunch.

Serves 8 (makes 24 pieces)

* 3/4 cup walnuts
* 4 tsp of olive oil (divided)
* 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
* salt & pepper for seasoning
* 1 french baguette
* 8 ounces goat cheese, softened
* 2 tbsp water
* 1/2 cup dried cranberries
* 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 ˚ F.

Toss the walnuts with 1 teaspoon olive oil and the cinnamon, season with salt and pepper. Scatter onto rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 4-6 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Cut the baguette into 24 thin slices. The easiest way I've come up with to do this is to cut the entire baguette in half, then cut each half in half again... making 4 even quarters. Since you need 24 slices total, you know you need 6 slices from each quarter. This way you know you're going to get the right number of slices and that they'll all be relatively the same size. Spread the baguettes onto your baking sheet and brush with the remaining olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake until lightly toasted, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, stir together the goat cheese and water until smooth. Stir in the dried cranberries and chopped thyme. Spread the goat cheese topping evenly on the toasted baguette slices and top each with the toasted walnuts and a sprinkle of thyme leaves.

Recipe Wednesday: Brie En Croute

This is the first of two guest posts today for Recipe Wednesday. It was written by an old friend of mine, the lovely Danielle, who wows me pretty much on a daily basis with her creations via Facebook photos. 

BRIE EN CROUTE

Don't be intimidated by the fancy name, it literally just means cheese in a crust! What I love about it is that it's super simple yet it looks impressive and most importantly, you can make it ahead of time! It's perfect if you need to bring something to a get together, or if you're hosting a dinner party because you can put it all together earlier in the day then just throw it in the oven just before serving it.

* 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
* 2 tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
* 1/2 cup walnuts
* 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 (8 ounce) wheel of brie
* 1/4 cup light brown sugar
* kitchen twine (optional)
* crackers, for serving


Defrost your puff pastry for about a half hour before you begin.

Preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

Unfold the puff pastry and lay it on a flat surface, then put the brie round in the center. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the walnuts and saute until they turn a golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add in the cinnamon and stir until the nuts are coated well. Put the walnut mixture right on top of the brie and then sprinkle  the brown sugar on top of that. Start pulling the puff pastry up over the whole thing, until all the cheese and filling are encased. 

You can tie the whole thing up with kitchen twine (just like a present) to keep anything from leaking out, though if you wrap it tight enough you don't have to. Melt the other tbsp of butter and brush it over the entire thing. This will help create a golden brown crust when you bake it. If you don't have butter, you can also use a beaten egg... I've even used milk, they all work just fine. I made this for my anniversary so I used extra puff pastry and cut out heart shapes which I put on top for decoration. You can make it without anything extra on top or you can get creative and try some different things.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve with crackers.