Dark chocolate thumbprint cookies filled with sweet peanut butter frosting “kisses”. These Inside Out Peanut Butter Blossoms are the “inside out” version of the popular Christmas cookie!
Inside Out Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut butter and chocolate. A classic combo that’s known to get people really excited. I’m one of those people. And these cookies are an absolute dream. Soft dark chocolate cookies coated in crunchy sugar and “filled” with the easiest peanut butter frosting. Pipe the frosting to resemble the chocolate kisses of the original peanut butter blossoms, and I promise that these cookies will excite any chocolate + peanut butter lover.
These cookies come together quickly and easily (no chilling!!) and then the frosting is made up of runny peanut butter and powdered sugar. Get out your piping bag and a Wilton 2A tip and start practicing those peanut butter “kisses”! And if you’re not the best piper (hello, it’s me), don’t worry. The frosting is thick and pliable (not sticky) so you can re-pipe the kisses as many times as you need to – you can literally peel them out of the thumbprints and add the frosting back to your piping bag without a mess! The result is a stunning little cookie, perfect for any movie night or small gathering.
Ingredients You’ll Need + Substitutes
- Dutch-process cocoa powder is richer in flavor and darker in color than regular cocoa powder. It really elevates the chocolate flavor of these cookies! Hershey’s Special Dark is what I use as it’s affordable and easily available!
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Sugar sweetens the cookies AND decorates them. For the cookie dough, you can mix in white granulated sugar, coconut sugar, or unrefined cane sugar. For rolling the dough balls, you want to use white granulated sugar.
- Egg binds the cookies together. For a vegan option, you can use a flax egg – mix 1 Tbsp of flaxseed meal with 3 Tbsp of warm water; allow to thicken for 5 minutes.
- Olive oil is my go-to baking oil (you won’t taste it in these cookies). Avocado oil or light olive oil would work as well.
- Peanut butter makes up the frosting kisses. You’ll want to use runny “natural” peanut butter made with only peanuts and salt. In order to get the perfect frosting, the peanut butter must be room temperature (in its runny state).
- Powdered sugar thickens and sweetens the peanut butter. If you’re looking for something less sweet, you can replace 1 Tbsp of the sugar with a starch such as arrowroot.
Inside Out Peanut Butter Blossoms
Dark chocolate thumbprint cookies filled with sweet peanut butter frosting "kisses". These festive cookies are the inside out version of your favorite peanut butter blossoms!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cookies
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (coconut, unrefined cane, or white cane)
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar (for rolling)
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1/2 cup natural runny peanut butter (made with just peanuts and salt), room temp (see Note 1)
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg, and olive oil. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix until totally combined.
- Add 1/3 cup of white granulated sugar to a small bowl/dish. Begin scooping dough balls (6 at a time) 1.5 Tbsp in size. Roll the dough balls smooth and then roll each one in the granulated sugar until well coated.
- Bake the sugared dough balls at 350°F for 5 minutes. Immediately press light "thumbprints" into the center of each hot cookie (I used the cap of my vanilla extract bottle). Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Then, re-press each thumbprint to make a deeper well. Repeat until all cookies are baked.
- Once the cookies are cool, make the frosting by combining the peanut butter and powdered sugar in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Heat the frosting for 10-15 seconds in the microwave.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2A tip. Pipe peanut butter "kisses" into each of the cookie thumbprints. If you mess up, don't fret; the frosting is thick enough that you can pull it off, add it back to the piping bag, and pipe it again without making a mess - yes, I did this multiple times!
- After you've piped all of the kisses, you can use your fingers to gently twist the tips of each kiss for a cleaner, pointier look.
- Store cookies in a single layer in an airtight container.
Notes
- Your peanut butter must be in its runny, room temperature state in order to get the perfect frosting consistency. If you use cold, thick PB, then your kisses won't hold their shape after being piped.
- The cookies won't spread much in the oven, so you will flatten them out when making the thumbprints.
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