These peanut butter chocolate half moons combine soft and chewy peanut butter cookies with a fudge-like chocolate icing. The recipe is slightly adapted from King Arthur Baking Company The Essential Cookie Companion cookbook.
PREPARATION TIME
Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (includes chilling)
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes (includes icing setting time)
Ingredients
Cookies
1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup (213g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup (135g) peanut butter, creamy or chunky*
1 cup (120g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (170g) peanuts, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or chocolate chips, or a combination*
Chocolate Icing
two 4-ounce semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate bars (226g total), chopped (about 1 and 1/2 cups)*
2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 Tablespoons (40g) light corn syrup
optional garnish: flaky sea salt or finely chopped peanuts
Instructions
Make the cookies: In a large mixing bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and baking soda on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter, beating until well blended. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Beat in the flour and peanuts/chips on low speed until the dough is cohesive. Dough will be soft and creamy.
Cover cookie dough and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour and up to 3 days before baking. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for at least 20-30 minutes before baking.
Towards the end of chill time, preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
Drop the dough by the Tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges. Cookies will appear very soft, but will become chewy and slightly crispy as they cool. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the icing: In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter together stirring constantly over low heat. OR microwave in a medium heat-proof bowl in 20 second increments, stirring after each until completely melted. Stirring is essential as the butter/chocolate may separate otherwise. Once smooth, remove from heat and stir in the corn syrup. Dip half of each cooled cookie into the chocolate (to make a half-moon effect) and, if desired, lightly sprinkle crushed peanuts or flaky sea salt on the chocolate. Return the cookies to the cooling rack to set, about 1-2 hours. Feel free to place cookies in the refrigerator to speed up the setting time.
Dipped cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies with or without chocolate icing freeze well up to three months. Though I don’t recommend rolling this dough into balls and baking (just drop by the Tablespoonful as instructed), you can roll the dough into 1 Tablespoon balls and freeze them for up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Double Boiler or Glass Mixing Bowl (for melting chocolate)
Peanut Butter: You can use creamy or crunchy peanut butter in this cookie recipe. I tested with natural and non-natural varieties and both worked.
Peanuts or Other Add-Ins: I used salted dry-roasted peanuts as the add-in in this cookie dough. You can use unsalted and/or raw peanuts if desired. Instead you can use any of the listed add-ins including peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or chocolate chips. Or use a combination totaling 1 cup.
Chocolate: You can certainly use 1 and 1/2 cups (or anywhere between 220-270g) high quality chocolate chips, but I love using chopped baking chocolate. Baking chocolate is sold in the baking aisle as 4 ounce bars, so you need 2. Feel free to use semi-sweet or bittersweet.
Adapted from King Arthur Baking Company The Essential Cookie Companion. The recipe is wonderful and found on page 68 in the cookbook. I added a chill time which helps make slightly thicker cookies as pictured. I also reduced the corn syrup in the icing and added 1/2 cup extra chocolate to the icing so it makes a little more. (I dip the cookies heavily!) This printable recipe includes those 2 small changes. A little garnish of crushed peanuts or sea salt is optional.
