Peanut Butter Cut Out Cookies with Chocolate Ganache

I believe I mentioned it was my boss’s birthday recently?

I had decided to make her honey-flavored cupcakes, to drive the theme of our office home for her birthday. I was worried, however, that those cupcakes might be her perfect cup of tea. They were orange, floral and wonderfully sweet, but I know in my heart my boss’s favorite flavor combo: chocolate and peanut butter.

I do not believe that there is any conundrum in the world that can’t be solved by baking more goodies, so I decided to double down on her birthday. I wanted to make bee-themed chocolate and peanut butter cookies, but how?

With some experimentation, I came up with a peanut butter cookie dough I could roll, cut out and would keep it’s shape when baking. Topping it with my trusty chocolate ganache was a no brainer. All I needed was to buy a few bee-themed cookie cutters. The result? Delightful and delicious peanut butter and chocolate cookies. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

6 tablespoons softened butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, well packed

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

sprinkles

Method:

Cream together the peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar until it is smooth. Add the corn syrup and egg and beat will until thoroughly combined.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half of this mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each portion of dough out between 2 layers of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Place these onto cookie sheets and chill for about an hour, until the dough is firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the chilled dough and cut out the shapes. Place onto another cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Reroll the scraps and repeat the process.

While the cookies cool, prepare the ganache. In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream to a gentle simmer. Turn off the heat. Add the chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Allow the ganache to thicken; set it aside for 5 minutes.

Spoon the ganache onto each cookie and add the top to make a sandwich. Allow the ganache to set completely and enjoy!

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