Double Delight Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies

You might have heard that Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, Maryland won the 43rd Pillsbury Bake off. Her winning entry was Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies, which consists of a peanut butter-stuffed peanut butter cookie, coated with cinnamon sugar and peanuts. Congrats to her!


Rather than using store-bought Pillsbury cookie dough (with hydrogenated oils), I created my own peanut butter cookie dough, and made the filling out of natural peanut butter. Along with adding a little honey to the batter, I also rolled the cookies in honey roasted peanuts, cinnamon and turbinado sugar.
These came out delicious...I loved them. They're very rich though, so be prepared. They're sweet and salty, crispy on the outsides, soft on the inside...and very "peanut-y".

Thanks to Nicole of Baking Bites and Anna of Cookie Madness for inspiring me to make these. They've both made versions of this cookie, so be sure to check out their blogs.

Double Delight Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies (Recipe by Me)
Printable Recipe

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter (no added sugar or oil)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter (mine was slightly chilled)
1 tablespoon honey

Coating
2/3 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and honey, until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour until well combined. Place dough in freezer for 15 minutes, stir, and freeze for an additional 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Sift confectioners' sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and honey until well combined. Shape mixture into 18 small balls, and place on a plate. Place plate in refrigerator until ready for use.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a large sheet pan with cooking spray.

Make the coating by stirring together peanuts, turbinado sugar and cinnamon, in a small bowl, until well combined.

Remove bowl from freezer; shape dough into an 11 inch x 2 1/2 inch log. Wrap dough in plastic wrap to shape better. Slice dough into 18 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough, flatten with your hand, place a peanut butter ball in the center, and wrap dough around ball. Roll ball in your hands to shape better. Roll balls in peanut mixture, to coat completely; place on prepared sheet pan. Coat the bottom of a glass with cooking spray and flatten cookies. Don't flatten too much.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-15 minutes, or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Cool 4 minutes on sheet pan, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 18 fairly large cookies