What’s your policy on naps? Do you have one? Is it weird that I do? Mine is that I should under no circumstances be permitted to take one unless I’m 100% certain that I won’t encounter another living being for at least 12 hours. Zach knows this. I haven’t napped in years, partly because they render me useless and intolerable for the rest of the day — it’s bad for my marriage. Naps sound nice on paper — get comfy, close your eyes (maybe dream about peanut butter thumbprint cookies — we’re getting there), and wake up feeling like Snow White, whistling and singing to forest fauna while you accomplish miserable chores with all the energy and enthusiasm that only a Disney princess could muster. That is not my reality. I emerge from naps as Gollum, my tongue ready to unleash vitriol at the most innocent transgressions… my attitude toward everything is we hates it! So, while I’m really, really craving a nap to get me through this Monday after an extremely busy baking/video-shooting/dish-washing weekend (as you might’ve seen on Facebook), I’m refraining. I am, however, guzzling caffeine and easing the burden of the workweek with chocolate peanut butter thumprint cookies.
I originally published this recipe nearly two years ago and I’ve used the chocolate cookie base over and over again. No matter how sleep deprived you are, you can make this recipe easily. It’s an extremely versatile dough that I’ve used to make the crisp sugar cookie part of my galaxy cookies, and I’ve adapted it to make non-chocolate thumbprint cookies and copycat tagalong cookies, to name a few. Unlike with the galaxy cookies, they’re very soft cookies (so make sure you let them cool completely on the cookie sheets — they could break if you try to move them early). The trick is to bake them for less time than you would bake the thinly rolled cutouts of the galaxy cookies (simple, I know, but the reduced baking time transforms them into a completely differently textured cookie).
I made a few small changes to the original fudge filling to make it faster and simpler without sacrificing any taste. It’s creamy and melts away, sweet peanut butter on your tongue. The peanut butter dollops are a little messy as you pile them into their chocolate craters, I gently swirled them with my fingertips to make them a little more neat and uniform, and tried to hide their still semi-sloppy swirls beneath dark chocolate tiger stripes. No such thing as too much chocolate, right?
On a cold and blustery sleep-deprived Monday, these chocolate peanut butter cookies are my precious pick-me-ups to help get you through the week. Enjoy! You Might Also Like Peanut Butter Dessert Shooters
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Buckeye Brownies
Recipe originally published 4/24/15 — updated 2/13/17
