Vegan MoFo Day IX : Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

It’s Vegan MoFo Day IX already! I am so impressed by all the amazing recipes and formidable camaraderie taking over the blogosphere. One thing I’ve been particularly enjoying is discovering so many new blogs and bloggers! Don’t forget to visit the Vegan MoFo Blogroll and spread the love!

Now for the cookies!

These are really like big thumb print cookies, but bigger is better, right? As far as cookies go, I’m thinking yes!

These are a healthier peanut butter cookie baked with a big ‘ole slob of ganache in the middle – what could be better? These make a lot, like 3 dozen, so get ready to share!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

3 to 3.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (milling is very different here, so start with 1 cup and add more as needed.)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

generous pinch salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (plus a little extra for rolling)

1/2 white sugar

2 tbsp canola oil (this might not be necessary, depending on your peanut butter)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cups natural peanut butter (chunky is fine)

3/4 cups non-dairy milk

1/4 water

about 1/2 cup ganache

A quick note about the ganache. If you use the recipe here you’ll end up with just enough left for making some Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (recipe coming soon!), but please use any kind your little heart desires, ok?

Like two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Stir the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir until just mixed (too much mixing makes for gummy cookies). This is a thickish/dryish dough, so if yours is too liquid to handle, add a little more flour until the right consistency is reached.

Now for the fun part – roll the dough into balls, a bit bigger than a walnut. (Like two walnuts?) Roll it in the brown sugar (this is optional), then place it on the baking sheet. Flatten it a little, then move on to the next one. When all the dough has been rolled, you’ll need to make little holes in each cookie – the easiest way is just to wet your index and poke a hole. Like so:

Now put them in the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour. While they are chilling, you can make your ganache, have a cup of tea and read a few blogs. When that’s done, you’ll need to fill them with chocolate. My method is to use one of Guppy’s old aspirin plungers, but you could use a spoon or whatever. Before you start, pre-heat your oven to 165°c/325°f, then get to work!

Now it’s time to bake! They’ll bake for about 20 minutes, depending on how thick/flat they are. When they’re done, leave them to cool on the baking sheets, that way, they’ll brown a little more on the bottoms without burning the chocolate.