I’m sorry. I know my title is so long. Ridiculously long. I promise I tried to change it, but I just needed to tell you all of those things about these cookies. They are too important to leave out.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but my best friend from high school is having a baby!! She’s due in less than a month, and it’s so strange. I’ve seen a lot of people have kids, but never someone my age and close to me. It’s like we’re becoming adults, and I can’t even handle it.
I’ve also never been so excited for someone to have a baby. There are no two people in the entire universe that could make more amazing parents than Lisa and Sam. Whenever I need to talk something through, Lisa is one of the first people I call, and she is always so loving, supportive, and filled with amazing, insightful advice. It has been so amazing to watch her meet the perfect man who loves her like crazy, and watch them build their life together.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending her baby shower. I’ve never been so excited for one of those things! I got totally emotional picking out her gifts. I came *this close* to making her black & white cookies, but I ended up deciding to try something new…like always. 😉
I just lightly adapted one of my favorite cookie recipes which was originally adapted by one of my very favorite bloggers, and I now might have a new favorite cookie. These cookies are not for those who love a mild taste, or feel luke warm about chocolate. Oh no, these are rich, bold, decadent, and insanely dark. They have the kind of intense chocolate flavor that satisfies you with just one cookie.
I mean, don’t get me wrong…You will want to eat 3 or 4, but one really does the trick. I always find dark chocolate to be more satisfying than milk chocolate. Sometimes I prefer a milk chocolate taste, but it always leaves me craving more, where as dark chocolate satisfies my sweet tooth. Anyone else? Am I just a total freak?
I originally wanted to make my own peanut butter chips. Natural, no sweetener, “healthy”. But then I got impatient, and I didn’t chill the peanut butter nearly long enough, and as I stirred it in, it just started swirling around. I was totally bummed for a hot second, then decided to just go with it. I ended up LOVING the peanut butter swirl! So pretty, so peanut buttery, so right. One of those happy accidents.
Add a little bite with so coarse sea salt on top, and you’ve got the makings of a perfect cookie. All sorts of things happening, but all working perfectly together.
Rich, decadent brownie cookies swirled with peanut butter and topped with sea salt. Vegan and whole grain.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup peanut butter, slightly melted
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- dash salt
- 4 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 tbsp apple butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
- Sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour peanut butter on in a thin layer. Transfer to the freezer to chill for 1 hour.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, corn starch and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together chocolate, vanilla, apple butter, and sugars until well combined,Add almond milk, then slowly beat in dry ingredients until just combined.
- Remove chilled peanut butter from parchment paper (it should be solid, but bendable. Gently, fold peanut butter and chocolate chips into batter. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Use a small cookie scoop to transfer dough to prepared cookie sheets. Add a small pinch of sea salt to each cookie. Press down dough balls to flatten slightly (they don’t spread when they bake, so if you don’t flatten them, you will end up with round cookies).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until just set. Do not over bake. They will continue to cook themselves as they sit. Let the cookies stand on the pan until completely cooled. Store in an airtight container for one week (these cookies stay pretty darn soft and gooey for days!).
OK, seriously Ari? OMG these look amazing!! I wish that I could eat peanuts because I would be making these this weekend. Then again, I could just leave out the peanut butter, right? Sub it with something else?
Chocolate and PB lovers will be thanking you! They look wonderful! And love the melty, drippy, oozing chocolate pics. So tempting!!
These look fantastic! Only thing is they’re not vegan if they have egg in them. I’ve been looking for vegan baked recipes for my son who has an egg-allergy but they look so good I will have to make them for me and my hubby! We love the pb/choc combo 😉
This is my dream come true recipe! PB and chocolate…mmmm! Good thing I’m coming off a week of a sugar detox challenge this weekend. I may be making these asap. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, awesome looking recipe!!! I will need to try these, thanks!
uhhh WOW! these sound and look absolutely ridiculous!!
I call this food porn.
I love dark chocolate, and these look amazing! Interesting that you added apple butter. Do they have an apple flavour at all? I haven’t tried using that as a sweetener in baking yet.
I love dark chocolate! I am not really in to milk chocolate, actually.
Congratulations to your friend, very exciting!
wow these look amazing! if i don’t have apple butter can i substitute it for anything else?
wow these look delicious!
I wish peanut butter was calorie free. lol.
There’s nothing better than an insanely chocolaty dessert with peanut butter!
Ari these look AMAZING! I am going to make them immediately. And everything else on your blog. Love all your recipes!
I LOVE YOU!!!!! So inspiring, and my roommates and I cant wait to try these cookies! We should catch up sometime soon. I would love it. I’m going to school right now to be a health coach, and plan to definitely refer to your blog often! 🙂 xoxo
Kimbre
I can call these cookies real temptation 🙂 sinfully good 🙂
These look tooooo dieeee forrrrr!
I love chocolate and peanut butter cookies. They look so tempting – can’t wait to get started.
I love your pictures and recipes, they are mouth watering. Would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. We are new but at foodieportal.com we are not photography snobs, we are just foodies.
Thanks for joining, you’re awesome. 🙂
I can vouch for these cookies – they are delicious! So much chocolately goodness. I get so excited when I show up in your blog! Thanks for all the baby love (and the cookies, of course. duh.).
We’re hanging your “Dream Big Little One” wall art this weekend — eeee! The baby is almost heeeere! You’re going to be the bestest bestfriend-aunt ever! I love youuuuuuh!
Hello from Sweden! What a delicious cookies! I love it!
They look so appetizing! That chocolate dripping from the cookies – makes me want to just grab my computer screen!
This sounds like all of the ingredients that I’d want in a dessert. Yum!
O-M-G. Ari, there seriously are NO words. Peanut butter and chocolate lovers unite in one gloriously tempting cookie!!!!!! loving the cornstarch in the dough and the apple butter too!
wow, they look amazing! cornstarch, chocolate chunks, sea salt! yum.
Mmmm!! Ari, why the heck didn’t you share one of these with me?!! The only acceptable answer is that I was out of the country when you made them, in which case I understand. But seriously these look soo good!!
Holy yum… these are my favorite flvors, all in 1!!! Miiiight have to be my post-competition treat. 🙂
yep, we’re twins all right 😉 and you can stack a cookie – just go higher next time!! XO
These look so so so good! I’m having a bake sale in a week, and I think these will be perfect! How many cookies does this recipe yield?
Wow Ari…I made these last night to feed a serious chocolate craving, and one cookie did the trick! These are seriously dangerous, love them!