Chocolate-Shell Peanuts

These are little edible tricks. Each cookie is shaped to look like an actual peanut, with a chocolate cocoa shell hiding a sweet peanut butter center inside. Crack one open and you get the same chocolate-peanut butter combination as a Reese’s, but in a baked, crumbly form.

The peanut butter filling is just peanut butter and powdered sugar mixed together and chilled until firm enough to handle. You need it cold so it holds its shape when you wrap the cocoa dough around it. If it’s soft, it squishes out the seams and the cookies lose their peanut shape.

The shaping technique takes a little practice. Flatten a tiny ball of cocoa dough, place a small nugget of filling in the center, wrap and seal, then pinch the ends and the middle to create that classic peanut silhouette. They don’t have to be perfect; slightly uneven shapes actually look more realistic.

Kitchen Tips

• Use half a teaspoon of dough per cookie. These are meant to be small, bite-sized pieces. Too big and the dough-to-filling ratio gets off.
• Seal the dough tightly around the filling. Any cracks let the peanut butter leak out during baking.
• Bake at the lower temperature the recipe calls for. These are a slow-bake cookie; high heat browns them too fast and dries out the thin shell.
• Roll in powdered sugar while still warm. It sticks better to the surface and gives them a dusty, finished look.

Variations

• Use almond butter and almond extract instead of peanut butter and vanilla for a chocolate-almond version.
• Drizzle cooled cookies with melted chocolate for an even more indulgent finish.
• Add a pinch of cinnamon to the cocoa dough for a Mexican chocolate twist.