Ingredients:

For the Dark Chocolate Cookie Base-

1/2 cup Vegan Butter, room temperature

196g (1 cup packed) Brown Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

38g (3 tbsp.) Brewed Coffee

1 tbsp. Ground Flax Seed/ Flax Meal

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

35g (Scant 1/2 cup) Cocoa Powder

162g (1 1/8 cup) All Purpose Flour

For the Peanut Butter Filling-

2 tbsps. Vegan Butter, room temperature

1/4 cup Peanut Butter

1/4 c Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp. Salt, or 1/2 tsp. Miso! I did these the second time with miso, and they came out delicious!

Method: 

(see pictures and video tutorial below the steps)

Step 1: Make the chocolate dough:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the room temperature vegan butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. This should be on medium speed, about 3-5 minutes. 

Step 2: While you're whipping the butter and sugar, combine the flax meal and brewed coffee in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes, as the flax needs to congeal with the coffee. 

Step 3: Add the vanilla extract, flax egg, cocoa powder, and salt to the stand mixer. Mix again until combined. 

Step 4: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry mix to the stand mixer. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, to reduce the amount of dry that will fly out the sides, then go up to medium speed until just mixed. You don't want to overmix the dough. 

Step 5: Place your dough in a container, and refrigerate at least overnight, but preferably 24 hours. 

Step 6: Make the peanut butter filling. In a bowl, combine the room-temperature plant butter, vanilla extract, and peanut butter. Using a whisk, whip until it's smooth, with no clumps of butter or peanut butter. All the ingredients are pretty smooth, so they don't require electric mixing. Just a whisk and a bowl work great!

Step 7: Add the Brown Sugar and salt, and whip again until all is combined. 

Step 8: On a parchment-lined plate, separate the peanut butter filling into 11 even scoops. Each will be the size of about 2 tsps. Place in the freezer until ready to bake. 

Step 9: Take the chocolate dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you're ready to bake. You want the dough to be room temperature when portioning. Portion the dough into 11 equal balls. Mine weighed 50 grams each, roughly the size of a scoop of ice cream. 

Step 10: Flatten the portioned balls of dough, add the frozen peanut butter filling to the middle, and wrap the dough around the peanut butter filling. You shouldn't be able to see any filling through the dough. 

Step 11: Place your filled doughs into the freezer. You do not want the cookies to spread too quickly in the oven, or else the filling will seep out. Freezing the dough will help it spread more slowly and bake more evenly. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Step 12: Bake the cookies. Place them about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Place in the oven for 8 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 7-8 minutes. They will have spread, be a little crinkly on the top, and still be soft/ gooey feeling in the middle. Allow to completely cool on the cookie sheets. 

Notes:

Can I make the components ahead of time? Yes! I made the peanut butter filling roughly 3 weeks in advance. It will store in the freezer or fridge for quite some time, so feel free to make the dough and the filling in advance. I do recommend letting the dough rest for a few days before making these cookies, as it deepens the flavor of the chocolate. 

Do I have to chill the dough in advance? Short answer, probably not. You want the dough to be room temp when you wrap it around the frozen PB filling, so it's ok if you make the dough the day of. However, I have always found that cookie dough gets better with age, as the flavor really develops with time in the fridge. DO NOT, however, skip the step of freezing both the PB filling beforehand and freezing the cookie dough balls right before baking.