february cookie carnival :: peanut butter & chocolate sandwich cookies!

the carnival has come to town for it's first ever visit! i'm feeling so lame for not having put this post up first thing this morning, but you know how it is. things happen. for me, a 5 month old baby with a nasty cold happened. crank-key.

onto the cookies! i decided to start with this recipe because my husband loves the peanut butter chocolate combo and i wanted to do something fun for him. also, it was easy and the cookies looked so amazing. . . in my head. the actual cookies didn't turn out as picture perfect as i'd hoped. i think this is because i chose to use natural peanut butter rather than the regular old hydrogenated kind. there is so much sugar in the cookies that i couldn't bare to use sugary pb as well. the result was tasty, but i bit. . . bulky. and i made them a little bigger than they should have been. but like i said, they tasted WONDERFUL, and that's really more important. as ever, i had my son involved. he loved scooping the dough. turns out this is much more fun, even, if you have dump truck spoon! well, of course!

i'm thrilled that KitchenNut participated in the carnival. she's got a post up on her blog today with the results of her cookie carnivaling. and you should visit her blog anyway, cause it's great.

also joining me this month was tiffany from Lattes and Life. check out her entry here. and here is a photo of her efforts. she took some great pictures and i have to say her cookies look damm near perfect. go tiffany!

and finally sari over at The Geek Inside joined up. . . .at least i think she did. she hasn't posted yet, so we'll see! thanks, ladies, for joining me in this new blog event!

peanut butter and chocolate sandwich cookies
from fine cooking magazine makes about 30 sandwich cookies or 60 single cookies

for the cookies: 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 2 large eggs 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

for the chocolate filling: 10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups) 4 oz. (8 tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

make the cookies: 1. position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with hand mixer) beat the peanut butter, brown sugar and baking soda on medium speed until well blended, about a minute. add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. 3. shape level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls about 1" in diameter. arrange the balls 1 1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. do not press down. bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and crackled, but still moist-looking, about 11 minutes. cool cookies for about 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

make the filling: 1. melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a medium heat-proof bowl set in a skillet with 1" of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. remove from heat, set aside until cool and slightly thickened, 20-30 minutes.



assemble the sandwiches: 1. turn half of the cooled cookies over so they are flat side up. spoon 2 tsp. of the chocolate filling onto the center of each cookie. top with remaining cookies, flat side down. press gently on each cookie to spread the filling almost to the edge. set on the rack until filling is firm, 20-30 minutes.

if you are interested in joining up for March--email me! kate(at)thecleanplateclub(dot)(net).