The Best Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies


I’m defintely in the spirit of Christmas when it comes to baking! I came across a recipe at a great food blog called Sweet Peas Kitchen that included one of my favorite combination of ingredents: peanut butter and chocolate. The cookies looked really delicious and knew I had to make them. With all the unhealthy sweets floating around, I wondered how they would turn out if I swapped out the white, all-purpose flour for whole wheat? Well, I was surprised to discover that they are delicious and you would never know the difference! So if you love cookies, and want to make them a litle more healthful, these are the ones to do it with. They still have butter and sugar in them, but it’s OK, it’s the holidays (at least that’s what I keep telling myself) Trust me, these cookies are wonderful with their soft and chewy texture, rich chocolate flavor and the peanut butter surprise!

Happy eatiing this Christmas, and all year!

Garlic Girl’s Best Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar, plus about 1/8 cup for rolling
1/2 brown sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 cup butter (oops, I used two, maybe that’s why they were extra good!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

PreparationPreheat oven to 375

In small bowl, sift flour, baking soda and cocoa powder. In a medium bowl, beat 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup peanut burtter, 1/2 cup brown sugar until creamy.

To the butter mixture, add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat in flour mixture a little at a time until all blended. In separate bowl, beat powdered sugar with remaining peanut butter.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. In palm of hand, flatter about a teaspoon of chocolate cookie dough. Add a little of the peanut butter mixture in the center and then shape dough around the peanut butter. You may need to dampen your hands a bit between cooking shaping because the dough can stick to much to your hands.

Roll the small ball in the sugar that you’ve set aside so that the whole ball is covered in sugar. Space the cookies on the sheet about and inch and a half apart and flatten each one with the bottom of a glass. Press very gently to flatten slightly because you want the cookies to be on the thick side.

Bake for about 8 minutes until the tops begin to crack a bit. Let cool on pan for about five minutes before transferring.

Serving Suggestion
 Once cooled, line a tin with decorative paper and give to your favorite people. Or get the milk out and start eating!!