Peanut Butter and Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

When Girl Scout season rolls around, are you known for hoarding boxes of Tagalongs®? If so, then this cookie recipe was developed for you. We've made them with an extra-thick layer of peanut butter filling, and used millet flour in the shortbread layer for a perfectly crisp, tender, and buttery cookie crunch. They're equally delicious with a milk and dark chocolate coating, so pick one or the other (or both!) for your own custom-made cookie that you can enjoy any time of year.
Thanks to feedback from you, our readers, we've made some changes to this recipe since it was first published - please see the details in 'baker's tips,' below.
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 6 tablespoons millet flour*
- *Substitute 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, if desired.
Filling
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
Coating
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups chopped milk or dark chocolate
Instructions
- To make the shortbread: Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, and beat until the dough is cohesive and smooth.
- Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) a large baking sheet.
- Roll the dough 1/4" thick, and cut it into 1 1/2" circles.
- Place the dough circles onto the prepared pan, spacing them about 1" apart.
- Bake the shortbread circles for 12 to 15 minutes (less time for thinner cookies), until light golden on the bottom and sides.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
- To make the peanut butter filling: Stir together all the ingredients until fully combined.
- Scoop generous teaspoons of filling onto the cooled shortbread circles, then press the filling flat so that it's flush with the edges of the shortbread; the filling will be about 1/4" thick on top of the shortbread.
- Freeze the peanut butter-topped shortbread cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until the filling is firm.
- To coat the cookies: Heat 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler (or in a microwave in 30-second increments) until almost fully melted.
- Add another 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth and fully melted; this is a basic way of tempering the chocolate and keeping it shiny as it sets.
- Dip the cold cookies into the chocolate (you can dip just the tops, half the cookie, or the whole cookie), and return to a piece of parchment or a cooling rack, until the chocolate has set.
- If the chocolate cools and firms as you're dipping, or if you run out of chocolate, reheat what's left, then stir in some or all of the remaining chopped chocolate.
- Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days.
Tips from our bakers
- We have reduced the minimum and maximum bake time for these cookies by 3 minutes. If you're rolling your cookies thinner than 1/4" or your spacing them more than 1" apart on your sheet pan, they will bake for even less time. Check them at 8 to 10 minutes, and every two minutes after that.
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Reviews
The shortbread was completely burned after 10 minutes when I checked in them I can't imagine how bad they would have been at 15 minutes. The rest of the recipe was good but after making the dough 2x it wasn't worth the double effort.We're sorry to hear your cookies burned, Becky. That's can be disappointing, we know. We take concerns like this seriously, so we went back to the test kitchen to see if we could replicate the results. It seemed like we had trouble with our cookies overbaking if they were rolled quite thinly. Be sure your cookies are at least 1/4" thick, and start checking for doneness around 10-12 minutes (the full time baking should be about 12-15 minutes). We've reduced the baking time in the recipe to hopefully ensure better results. Kye@KAF
The cookies were very good. I think there is an error in the cooking time for the cookies though. I think 10 minutes needs to be subtracted from the baking time. I found 5-8 minutes to be ideal for the 1 1/2" cookies, the 15-18 minutes called for in the recipe turned them into mini charcoal briquettes.
I would recommend this recipe with caveats. Do not, under any circumstances, bake it with small children. Don't try it on a busy day. This is not an instantly gratifying bake. It will take time and patience, and it is messy. Because of time constraints I had to bake it in two stages. I made the shortbread first and it was easy and tasted good on its own. When the shortbread was baking I prepared the very tasty peanut butter filling. It was also easy. The next day I chopped and melted chocolate. Here's where I had problems. Despite freezing the cookies as the recipe said the filling fell off when I attempted to dip the cookie not the chocolate. I had to spoon the chocolate onto the cookies and it was VERY messy. The finished product was good, but not a wow.
Maybe a different recipe choice (Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, Milk Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies or even Magic in the Middles) would be better for a busy-day or helpful-cherubs bake. We appreciate your frank review of the recipe that will help other bakers when they are making cookie recipe choices. Thanks for sharing the joy of happy baking with the next generation! Irene@KAF