Welcome to the holiday season, Minneapolites! This year I’ve really had to tighten ye olde holiday belt as far as my Christmas gift budget is concerned, and I’m sure a lot of you are in the same boat. Everyone is getting homemade gifts this year, which is how I prefer it anyway. My mother always made these insane peanut butter balls around Christmastime, which is probably while I associate this flavor with the holidays. Give your family & friends a delicious homemade treat this year, and also give them a heartier cookie than those bland, frosted sugar cookies they’re already sick of eating. These seem intimidating, but trust me, you can do this.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows from the Vegan Cookie Book
For the chocolate dough you’ll need:
For the peanut butter filling you’ll need:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, maple syrup, faux milk, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Then, Sift in the flour, cocoa, black cocoa (if using), baking soda and salt. Mix to form a moist dough. Voila, you have your dough!
Next, make the peanut butter filling by using a mixer to beat together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, 2 tbsp of the soy creamer, and vanilla to form a moist but firm dough. if it’s too dry add more creamer, if too wet knead in a little extra powdered sugar.
Easy, peasy, right? Next comes the fun part: assembly!
Preheat your oven to 350, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Create the centers of the cookies by rolling the peanut butter dough into 24 balls, set aside. Scoop a generous tablespoon of chocolate dough, flatten into a thin disc, and place a peanut butter ball in the center. Fold the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter center and roll into a smooth ball. place on a sheet of waxed paper–you can flatten the balls slightly or just leave in ball form, whichever you fancy. Place them on the baking sheets about 2″ apart and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes before moving them to write racks.
While your first batch is in the oven, form the 2nd batch, it takes almost exactly 10 minutes to form your next batch of 12.
The recipe states that impatience is rewarded, and that eating them straight out of the oven is recommended–and this is advice you should definitely heed, trust me.
I gave my mother some of these cookies last year for the holidays and she demanded the recipe from me, true story!
Happy Holidays!
Holly is really stoked to plan her holiday menu and make her extended family eat food that will, at first, terrify them, and then amaze them with it’s epic flavor! Read more recipes and vegan adventures at Babes In Soyland.
