Chocolate Peanut Butter Puddle Cookies

Sometimes the best things come out of a craving for a specific ingredient. I came up with these little gems out of a great love for thumb print cookies and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. I later thought of peanut butter and jam thumb prints but have yet to make them. The are just as easy to make as any other cookie but look special.  Also they are not the best travelling cookie, but if appearances do not matter, they make a tummy happy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Puddles

  • 1 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • a sprinkle of salt
  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (not the natural kind)
  • a handful of chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream sugars, eggs and butter. Add dry ingredients into butter and sugar mix.

Roll into balls the size of a walnut, place on cookie sheet. Press in with your thumb to create a well, spoon in a scant 1/2 tsp of peanut butter, it doe not have to lie flat. Top with a few chocolate chips and repeat. Bake for 9-12 minutes .

Watch these because  like all chocolate based cookies, it’s hard to tel when they are done, usually closer to 9 minutes then let them rest out of the oven on the pan for a few minutes before placing them on the cooling rack. Let cool completely before eating because the peanut butter will run and could burn you.

Coconut Tres Leche Cake

Simple cake you can make the night before a get together, great for summer, sweet and yummy! I found this version on chow.com . There was not anything I altered except I added both equal parts dark rum and vanilla to the milk mixture. Unfortunately I could not get a good picture as I made it late at night and then was too busy serving it up to stop to take a picture.  I copy and pasted the recipe below or simply click the link I provided above. Hope you try it and enjoy it! It really has a angel food texture, soaked in milky sweet goodness.

Coconut Tres Leche Cake

  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk (not nonfat)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum
  • 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  1. Heat oven to 325°F. Butter a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Separate eggs, and place yolks in a large mixing bowl. Reserve whites in a separate mixing bowl.
  2. Add sugar to yolks, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Clean beaters, and whip egg whites to medium peaks, about 1 1/2 minutes.
  3. Using a rubber spatula, stir about 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it. Then gently fold in remaining whites.
  4. Whisk flour with a dry whisk to aerate and break up any lumps, then sprinkle it over egg mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold flour into egg mixture, just until there are no more white flour streaks. Don’t overmix.
  5. Pour batter into the buttered baking dish, and bake until cake is puffed and golden and the edges pull away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 25 minutes.
  6. Remove cake from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. With a toothpick, poke holes all over the cake. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
  7. In a medium bowl, whisk together three milks and rum, and pour mixture evenly over cake. Continue cooling cake, about 45 minutes more, then cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
  8. For toasted coconut, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add coconut and spread it in an even layer. Cook, stirring often, until coconut is lightly toasted and browned. If coconut begins to burn, reduce heat. Remove from the pan immediately.
  9. To serve the cake, whip heavy cream and powdered sugar to medium peaks. (If you like, flavor it with a teaspoon of dark rum.) Top each cake slice with a mound of whipped cream, and garnish with toasted coconut.