Vanilla Shortbread Cookies with Peanut B...
These buttery, delicate vanilla cookies are topped with a whipped peanut butter cream and then drizzled with a rich chocolate glaze.
Or, the hardest cookie to name, ever. My mom and I have been calling these the “peanut butter chocolate shortbread cookies” for as long as I can remember. The recipe card that I have, written by my mom, is titled “Chocolate/Peanut Butter Cream Cookies”. This is the third cookie in my collection of “Cookies Meghan must make every Christmas” (find the others HERE and HERE). I was trying to think of a straightforward, descriptive name for the blog, but it wasn’t happening. This cookie is kind of nameless, even though we have been making it since I was a child.
The reason it is so hard to name this cookie is that there is so much going on. First lets start with the cookie. It is a crisp, buttery vanilla cookie. Similar to a shortbread cookie, but not quite the same – more buttery, more crisp, less dense and crumbly. But it also is not a sugar cookie. It’s its own cookie, OK? Then we top it with this whipped peanut butter cream. Ok, it’s basically frosting.
But just look at that. I have mentioned before that I normally make my own nut butters, but I do make an exception and buy commercial peanut butter for holiday baking, mostly because of this cookie. I’m sure you COULD make this with homemade, natural peanut butter, but this is one place where I feel like store-bought works better. That may just be the nostalgia talking.
And then, because we know that peanut butter and chocolate are BFFs/soul mates and should never be apart, we drizzle the whole thing with a chocolate glaze.
Yassssss. I used a piping bag to make the drizzle pretty, but really you don’t have to do that if you don’t care about looks. It does make the chocolate easier to manage, though. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can just spoon the chocolate into a baggie and cut off the corner, or even use a fork to drizzle it (although, to be honest, that is the hardest way to do it).
Vanilla Shortbread Cookies with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Glaze
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Ingredients
For The Vanilla Cookie:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- granulated sugar for rolling cookies in
For The Peanut Butter Cream:
- 1/4 cup butter softened (1/2 stick)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
For The Chocolate Glaze:
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- For vanilla cookies, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix to incorporate. Slowly add flour and salt and mix until combined. Chill dough for at least an hour.
- To make the peanut butter cream, mix peanut butter, butter and brown sugar until smooth.
- For the chocolate glaze, heat chocolate chips and milk in microwave for 10-15 seconds, remove and stir until chocolate chips are melted (you may need to heat it for another 10 seconds). Although the chips may not look melted, they will usually melt quickly when stirred, from the residual heat. When smooth, add powdered sugar and stir until smooth again. Spoon into a piping bag.
- When ready to bake cookies, heat oven to 350°F
- Roll dough into 1 inch balls, then toss in granulated sugar. Using a glass with a flat bottom that is about 1 and a half inches in diameter, press the dough ball to flatten. Dip glass bottom into sugar between cookies to keep it from sticking.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges are golden. After removing from oven, allow to cool on baking sheets. Allow cookies to cool completely.
- When cookies are cool, spread a thin layer of peanut butter cream onto each cookie.
- Using the piping bag, drizzle chocolate glaze over cookies.
- Allow to sit for several hours before storing so that the chocolate glaze can firm up.
Notes
**It is important to cool cookies completely before frosting with peanut butter cream, or else the peanut butter cream will melt.
***Chocolate glaze will be wet when first applied, but it will firm up in a few hours.
****For the chocolate glaze, I'm sure you could also make it in a double broiler, but I always use the microwave. Just be sure not to let it heat in the microwave too long, to avoid burning the chocolate. It takes very little time to melt, usually 10-15 seconds.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate for your convenience. If you have strict nutritional needs, please do your due diligence to make sure this recipe fits your needs.
You may have some peanut butter cream left over, and maybe some chocolate glaze too. So you could make some more cookies if you want. Or, you could alternate dipping your spoon into the peanut butter cream and the chocolate glaze. Not that I would do that/am doing it right now. I promise I will share a green smoothie recipe in January, OK?
So, real talk guys. HOW are you feeling about the changes to the pinterest app? I just saw it. I’m not sure if I love it or hate it. I usually take a little while to adjust to changes. I feel like they are messing with my boards, but also it is more accurate about what you are actively pinning now. So far it looks like just the app changed, not the website. But the app only changed like 30 minutes ago, so time will tell. Let me know how you feel about it (OR how you feel about my not very creative name for these cookies, or just how you feel about cookies in general) in the comments below!
