Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Cookies

If you find it hard to resist the classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, then wait until you try these Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Cookies. This recipe features a soft and fudgy brownie-like chocolate cookie dough with creamy peanut butter fudge stuffed inside and marbled through. The rich chocolate cookie isn't too sweet and the peanut butter filling has an addictive sweet and salty flavor that makes this cookie irresistible. If you love chocolate and peanut butter together, try my Ultimate Peanut Butter Brownies, Peanut Butter Brookies, Peanut Butter Espresso Fudge Ice Cream and this Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

• Fudgy brownie cookies - these soft-baked chocolate cookies are nice and soft with a texture similar to a brownie. This cookie dough is unique because there's quite a bit of milk in it which offsets the drying effect of cocoa powder and makes these extra moist and fudgy.
• Rich chocolate flavor - melted chocolate and cocoa powder in the cookie dough gives a double dose of chocolate flavor so these cookies are guaranteed to fix that chocolate craving.
• Peanut butter filling - you make a simple 2 ingredient peanut butter fudge filling that is smooth and creamy with a sweet and salty flavor that is irresistible.
• Easy to make - despite how pretty these are with their marbled appearance, they are very simple to make! Rolling the dough gets a little messy when the dough is soft which is why I recommend chilling it for at least 2 hours before shaping the cookies.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE SWIRL COOKIES

• Salted butter - I love salted butter when making recipes with chocolate because it really helps bring out the flavor of the cocoa. You can absolutely still make this recipe with unsalted butter, and in this case I would add a ⅛ teaspoon more salt.
• Granulated sugar - simple white granulated sugar makes perfectly tender and fudgy cookies while allowing the pure chocolate flavor to shine. You could also use light brown sugar in this recipe and it does work.
• Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to enhance the flavor of the chocolate. I love this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract.
• Egg - just one whole egg is all you need to make this brownie-like cookie dough.
• Cocoa powder - good quality cocoa powder will definitely make a difference in these cookies. It's the main flavor and you want it to shine so use your favorite one. I love to use this Dutch Process cocoa powder for this recipe.
• All purpose flour - regular AP flour (unbleached) is what I use to make all of my cookie recipes. Just be sure to measure your flour correctly. Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake and leads to dry and crumbly cookies. The most accurate way to measure flour is using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.

• Milk - a little bit of milk helps hydrate the cocoa powder and keeps the cookie dough soft even after chilling since the high quantity of melted chocolate in the dough would cause it to stiffen up and become brittle from the cocoa butter content.
• Peanut butter - You will need regular emulsified peanut butter for this recipe, such as Jif or Skippy (not the natural kind that you need to stir). I prefer smooth creamy peanut butter, but crunchy peanut butter would work too.
• Powdered sugar - confectioner's sugar turns the peanut butter into this creamy peanut butter fudge that won't melt away into the cookie dough. Instead, it remains as a thick ribbon through the cookies.
• Baking powder - these cookies get a bit of lift from baking powder so they are nice and thick to hold the defined swirls of peanut butter throughout.
• Baking soda - just a tiny bit of baking soda helps these cookies spread a bit so that you don't end up with pucks. Too much baking soda would cause them to spread flat like pancakes.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS: HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE SWIRL COOKIES

• STEP 1). Melt chocolate. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with ½-inch of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until melted and smooth (or melt in the microwave on medium power in 20 second increments with frequent stirring). Set aside to cool slightly.
• STEP 2). Cream butter and sugar. Combine soft butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix well with a spatula until smooth and a bit fluffy-looking. Add egg and mix well until incorporated. It's important that the egg is at room temperature or it will be difficult to incorporate since there isn't so much butter in this recipe.
• STEP 3). Add chocolate. Add the slightly cooled melted chocolate and stir it in until evenly combined.
• STEP 4). Combine dry ingredients. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add salt and whisk to blend evenly. Add half of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and fold it in until combined.
• STEP 5). Add milk and fold it into the thick batter, then fold in the remaining flour mixture.
• STEP 6). Chill the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
• STEP 7). Make the peanut butter filling. Combine peanut butter and confectioner's sugar in a medium bowl and mix until smooth. It will form a thick paste. Use a teaspoon to scoop up the filing and roll each portion into smooth balls about 10g each. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, plate, or tray. Repeat with remaining mixture until you have about 14 peanut butter balls. Loosely cover and freeze them for 30 minutes to an hour.
• STEP 8). Shape the dough balls. You can do this a couple of ways. The peanut butter filling softens easily at room temperature, so you can work with half of the batch at a time while the rest are in the freezer. Use a 1 ¼-oz cookie scoop to scoop up the chocolate cookie dough. With the dough still in the scoop, make an indentation in the center with your thumb, press a frozen peanut butter ball into the indentation, wrap the cookie dough around it to enclose it and then release the dough from the scoop. Roll it into a smooth ball. Now give it a marbled look by pinching the dough in half to expose the peanut butter filling, press these two halves together and then roll into a smooth ball. Repeat with remaining cookie dough and peanut butter ball.
• STEP 9). Bake. Place dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops are shiny and the edges are set. The centers should still be a little soft and will set as the cookies cool.

EXPERT BAKING TIPS

• Use a alkalized cocoa powder, also called Dutch-process cocoa, to get a rich dark color and smooth chocolate flavor for this cookie dough. Natural cocoa is also lovely with complex fruity notes, but it will make cookies with a lighter brown color.
• Chill the dough before rolling. Chilling the dough will help prevent them from spreading too much and will also make it easier to form the dough balls around the filling.
• Use a smooth emulsified peanut butter. This recipe will not work with natural peanut butter since the liquid peanut oil means that it will be too fluid to shape. Regular peanut butter has a stiffer consistency.
• Avoid using cold eggs and milk. I recommend warming the egg in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. This will ensure the sugar dissolves properly so you get that shiny crust.
• Use pure semisweet chocolate with between 50 and 60% cocoa solids. If the chocolate is too sweet, then the cookies will spread too much and also taste too sweet. If the chocolate is too dark like bittersweet chocolate, then the cookie dough will be stiff and the cookies may not spread enough. Do not use compound chocolate which contains vegetable oils and will cause the cookies will spread into puddles.
• Preheat your oven for at least 15 minutes. It is important that the oven is properly hot and at the right temperature for these to bake with that nice crackly shiny top and the right thickness with fudgy centers.
• Do not over-mix after adding the flour. Gentle folding at this stage will guarantee a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Mixing too much will make cookies that have a tougher and more "bready" texture since the milk introduces more moisture to interact with the wheat proteins to make gluten. Nevertheless, the milk is what makes them so soft and fudgy.
• Use a scale to measure ingredients. The amount of flour in any cookie recipe is very important and even slight changes can impact the texture. I always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients for best results.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Cookies

Christina Marsigliese, Food Scientist MSc.

These Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Cookies feature soft and fudgy brownie-like chocolate cookie dough with creamy peanut butter fudge stuffed inside and marbled through. The rich chocolate cookie isn't too sweet and the peanut butter filling has an addictive sweet and salty flavor that makes this cookie irresistible.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Chill Time 2 hours hrs

Servings 13 cookies

Ingredients

  

Peanut Butter Filling:

• ½ cup (120g) creamy peanut butter
• ⅓ cup (40g) confectioners' sugar

Chocolate Cookie Dough:

• 5 oz (142g) semisweet dark chocolate (50-60% cocoa), coarsely chopped
• 6 tablespoon (84g) salted butter, softened
• ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 cup (142g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (21g) cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon (30ml) whole milk

Instructions

 

• Melt chocolate. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with ½-inch of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until melted and smooth (or melt in the microwave on medium power in 20 second increments with frequent stirring). Set aside to cool slightly.
• Make the cookie dough. Combine soft butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix well with a spatula until smooth and a bit fluffy-looking. Add egg and mix well until incorporated. It's important that the egg is at room temperature or it will be difficult to incorporate since there isn't so much butter in this recipe.
• Add the slightly cooled melted chocolate and stir it in until evenly combined.
• Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add salt and whisk to blend evenly. Add half of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and fold it in until combined.
• Add milk and fold it into the thick batter, then fold in the remaining flour mixture. Cover the bowl and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
• Make the peanut butter filling. Combine peanut butter and confectioner's sugar in a medium bowl and mix until smooth. It will form a thick paste. Use a teaspoon to scoop up the filing and roll each portion into smooth balls about 10g each. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, plate, or tray. Repeat with remaining mixture until you have about 14 peanut butter balls. Loosely cover and freeze them for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• When ready to bake, shape the dough balls. You can do this a couple of ways. The peanut butter filling softens easily at room temperature, so you can work with half of the batch at a time while the rest are in the freezer. Use a 1 ¼-oz cookie scoop to scoop up the chocolate cookie dough. With the dough still in the scoop, make an indentation in the center with your thumb, press a frozen peanut butter ball into the indentation, wrap the cookie dough around it to enclose it and then release the dough from the scoop. Roll it into a smooth ball. Now give it a marbled look by pinching the dough in half to expose the peanut butter filling, press these two halves together and then roll into a smooth ball. Repeat with remaining cookie dough and peanut butter ball.
• Alternatively you can portion the dough, roll it into a smooth ball then flatten the dough ball out to about a 2 ½-inch round patty. Place a peanut butter ball into the center and then wrap the cookie dough around to fully engulf it. Roll it into a smooth ball and continue as above to create the marble effect. Watch the full recipe tutorial above to see exactly how I do it.
• Place dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops are shiny and the edges are set. The centers should still be a little soft and will set as the cookies cool.
• Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack and let cookies cool for 2 minutes before transferring individually to a wire rack to finish cooling.