First off, I caved and joined twitter. So if you want to know what spices I am running low on, today is your lucky day. OK, now I’ll make with the cookies.
It seems that Peanut Butter Pillows won this battle, but the war still rages and I’ll post a few more of your recipe requests in the next few weeks. Right now, though, let’s get down to business. This recipe come straight from the ska checkered oven mitted hands of Terry Hope Romero.
Chocolate and peanut butter fans will totally stalk you once they get a bite of these classic chocolately cookies with a heart of sweet and salty peanut butter. We can’t deny impatience is rewarded here: these cookies when eaten warm just a few minutes out of the oven are dynamite. We use black cocoa powder because we happen to have it, but dutch processed or even regular cocoa powder would be A-OK.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows
makes 2 dozen cookies
Chocolate dough:
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons black unsweetened cocoa or more dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling:
3/4 cup natural salted peanut butter, crunchy or creamy style
2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons soy creamer or non-dairy milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa if using, baking soda and salt. Mix to form a moist dough.
Make the filling. In another mixing bowl beat together peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons of soy creamer and vanilla extract to form a moist but firm dough. If peanut butter dough is too dry (as different natural peanut butters have different moisture content), stir in remaining tablespoon of non-dairy milk. If dough is too wet knead in a little extra powdered sugar.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bakings sheet with parchment paper.
Shape the cookies. Create the centers of the cookies by rolling the peanut butter dough into 24 balls. Scoop a generous tablespoon of chocolate dough, flatten into a disc and place a peanut butter ball in the center. Fold the sides of the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter center and roll the chocolate ball into an smooth ball between your palms. Place on a sheet of waxed paper and repeat with remaining doughs. If desired gently flatten cookies a little, but this is not necessary.
Place dough balls on lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and let cookies for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to complete cooling. Store cookies in tightly covered container. If desired warm cookies in a microwave for 10 to 12 seconds before serving.
These turned out delicious! I had no problem with the chocolate dough…but I had a little trouble with the filling. It was way too runny. I tried adding a little more powdered sugar, and then chilling it which helped a little. I think it might be because I used crappy, cheep sugar and some not-so-great peanut butter. *shurgs* They taste great though 🙂
I just finished baking these. They are my new favorite cookies!
These are terrific! I just made them for a bake sale (in possibly the least vegan friendly town in the US) and they were a hit! After ten minutes, the plate of 24 cookies was cleared and I had woman leave her number to ask for the recipe. Thanks for these great cookies!
These cookies are delicious and very easy to do to! Thanks!
This is a seriously great recipe. The directions are great, the cookies are fun to assemble, and they turned out perfectly. So delicious! Thank you!
These are awesome! The only trouble I had was that they flattened into the shape of regular cookies. They were still delicious but I am wondering why they dropped.
Oh man these turned out great! I used Agave instead of maple cause that’s what I had around. I really like that there isn’t any hard to find ingredients in this recipe. One of my co-workers has asked me to pass on any Vegan baking recipes as her son is allergic to both milk and eggs. I’m gonna take her some tomorrow to try, see what she thinks.
wahooo! these cookies rock my world! but i have one small suggestion. i made my peanut butter balls like a good boy but i kind of ran out of the chocolate part when i got to 20 cookies (don’t worry i ate the 4 remaining peanut butter balls 😀 ). if you add the instruction to separate the chocolate batter into halves? quarters? so you have a better idea of how to portion it out i think it would help.
These were yummy. Fiancee took them in to work for the guys and they were devoured. They did not look nearly as pretty as yours though, did I do something wrong?
These are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! DEFINATELY a new fave!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! 🙂
These cookies are delicious! I made them for Christmas for my friends and family and everyone loved them.
I do have one question if anyone can help me —
Why was my chocolate dough so sticky?!?!? It was freakishly, freakishly sticky and soooo hard to work with, so these cookies ended up being extremely difficult to make because I kept having to put the dough in the fridge to even get it a tiny bit workable, but then of course as soon as I touched it it started warming up again, so I could only roll maybe 3 cookies at a time. I followed the recipe to a T, so I don’t know what happened.
Any help? =)
I made these with my 6 year-old today (and she offered to lick my hands clean after wrapping up the peanut butter). These are great, and a great cookie to make with the kids. For the peanut butter I used a #50 scoop (an ice cream scoop that gets 50 scoops per quart – restaurant supplies have these for $9) for the peanut butter – that yielded 12 balls, which we cut in half and the kid had a blast rolling up. The outside dough was a bit trickier and we almost ran out – a scoop would not be a good idea for the gooey dough…
To Erika: It’s a sticky, gooey dough, and it sort of needs to be to stretch over the peanut butter and be thin enough to make a nice cookie on the outside. I made the chocolate discs by flattening the dough into my palm (the child depositing the peanut butter into the center), making the seam at the top and plopping them seam-down onto the cookie sheets. Making the discs on a surface and then doing it would have been impossible. Also, I had to clean my hands down halfway through. If that doesn’t work for you, try adding another tablespoon of cocoa to stiffen the dough a bit.
Thanks for the fab recipe, Isa and Terry! (I’m going to try the omelettes from the brunch book soon – they seem very like the Om-lette served at L.A.’s Follow Your Heart (Mmmmmmmm).)
Chocolates and peanut butter – two of kitchen’s greatest inventions! Thanks for sharing them, I really love your blog.
I made these on the weekend and was surprised by a) how much they looked like the cookie in the picture b) how not complicated they were because I thought it would be hard to get the pb inside the choco dough and c) how effing delicious they were. i miss reeses’ cups but these are sooo much better i’m so over it.
agreed with the person who said to portion up the dough AND the peanut butter balls so you don’t have left overs of one and not the other.
THANK YOU ISA! YUM! YUM! YUM!
These cookies are incredible and mine looked just like they do in the picture…I baked them for my boyfriend and the next morning he told me he loved me for the first time…coincidence?
I just made these with almond instead of peanut butter, they are spectacular. Actually, I just gave them an 11/10 on my blog!
I’m totally going to make these! Thanks!!!
These were very good. I made them with almond butter (thanks for the idea Josiane!) because I just don’t like natural peanut butter. Also added some almond extract to the filling. Time-consuming to make, but worth it. I need this book now!
Just made these for the first time over the weekend: http://veganniche.blogspot.com/2010/02/peanut-butter-chocolate-pillows.html
Heavenly!
Although I think they look more like UFOs than pillows.
I LOVE THESE BIKKIES.
http://sewredhot.blogspot.com/2010/02/peanut-butter-chocolate-pillows-vegan.html
they turned out perfect.
Isa and Terry you have turned me into a freakin fantastic baker !
I was looking for the perfect cookies to send in a care package to my chocolate lovin’ boyfriend–who is hours away studying for certifications and whose birthday is this weekend. I think I found them! And I have all the ingredients in the pantry! YAY! 🙂
This looks amazing. I’m going to make it for a dinner party tomorrow night. A question: any suggestions for making this without refined sugar? Could I substitute brown rice syrup or something for the sugar?
These were absolutely FANTASTIC! We could not stop eating these! I LOVE the combo of chocolate and peanut butter, but these are just out of this world AWESOME! A little time consuming, but worth it. Probably can be made faster with a helpig hand. 🙂
WOW. I do believe that I have found my cookie nirvana — chocolate, peanut butter, and vegan, all in one absolutely amazing cookie. I think these are actually the best (vegan or not) chocolate peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had. I rarely bake the same recipe twice (so many recipes, so little time), but these will without any doubt be getting baked again. I have a feeling I’m also going to be investing in the book soon enough.
This looks amazing. I’m going to make it for a dinner party tomorrow night
I just made these. So f-ing good. My mouth jizzed everywhere.
I have no idea what goes wrong in other people’s kitchens, but these cookies are to DIE FOR! perfect combo of chocolate and peanut butter… I may throw in a little instant espresso powder to the chocolate dough next time. Oh dear, I need to stop drooling all over my keyboard! 😀
wow this looks so good. i grew up on peanut butter( like million others) so i cant stop eating it in every form u know.. yummy
Simply delicious! I’ll get all the ingredients and test them tomorrow!
I try this with my two children over the weekend. It is a wonderful process. However, the result did not turn out well because we did not control the heat correctly. But it became a great bonding process.
jim