The Big Buckeye (December 2023 BHG, p 159)
The thin peanut butter layer forms the eye of the buckeye nut this cookie’s named for. Flatten peanut butter balls in your hand first, then gently press them on a cooled cookie before topping with ganache.
Hands on 25 minutes
Total time 55 minutes
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons salted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee powder (I didn’t have any on hand so I left it out)
2/3 cup Dutch-process unseated cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon plus 1 pinch salt (I just did slightly heaping 1/2 teaspoon)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate bar, finely chopped (I just used my semi-sweet chocolate chips)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
Preheat over to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper in a large bowl beat the 3/4 cup butter with a mixer on medium high 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat on medium, scraping bowl as needed, 2 minutes, Beat in eggs, egg yolk, 2 tsp of the vanilla, and the coffee powder until combined. Beat in cocoa powder, baking soda, and the 1/2 tsp. salt until combined. Beat in flour. (I like to put the baking soda and salt in with the flour as dry ingredients to avoid salty clumps in my cookies)
Drop dough by 1/3 cup portions (nine total) 3 inches apart onto a prepared cookie sheet. Flatten mounds to 3/4 inch this and 3 inch diameter.
Bake until edges are just set and tops appear crackled about 12 minutes. Let cook 2 minutes on cookie sheets. Remove; cool completely on wire racks.
For Ganache, in a saucepan, (or class measuring cup in microwave works well too) bring heavy cream just to boiling over medium-high. Remove from heat; add chocolate (do not stir); Let stand for 5 minutes stir until smooth. Cool about 10 minutes. (I just put all cream and chocolate together in microwave save bowl and microwaved it fro 40-60 seconds let sit for a couple minutes then whisked it together until smooth).
In a medium bowl stir together the peanut butter, all the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp butter, remaining 1/4 tsp vanilla (I didn’t put the butter, vanilla, or pinch of salt in this step because I accidentally put it all in the cookie dough. It worked out fine for both). Shape peanut butter mixture into tin 1 1/2 inch balls. Gently flatten each peanut butter ball to fit within 1/2-inch of the cookies edge; press gently to adhere to cookie. Spoon ganache over the peanut butter.
Makes 9 cookies
Store in a airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months.
Per cookie 764 cal, 42g fat (21g saturated fat) 124mg chol, 612 mg sodium, 90g cars, 5g fiber, 54g sugar, 12g protein
SIZE NOTES:
I actually used my cookie scoops and made the 9 cookies magically into 2 dozen cookies ;-). They were still plenty big cookies. I used my #30 (2.3 Tablespoon scoop) size cookie scoop for cookies I cooked them for 9 minutes. Then I used my #60 (1 Tablespoon scoop) and it was perfectly portioned.