I wish I had more time to dedicate to my beloved baking but when I’m up the walls but in need of a quick fix, this ridiculously decadent Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches Recipe is my go to. I debated calling them PB & Joy cookies, as the four ingredient, easier than pie beauties can be whipped up in less than twenty minutes. You could stop there but why not gild the lily and knock up a quick buttercream filling and make a monstrous treat out of it?

Melting chocolate over a double boiler is basically free therapy and a licence to lick the bowl, so don’t skip out on the chocolate coating which I spike with sea salt for that irresistible sweet and salty hit. Finally, if you want to make a dessert out of these babies, why not fill with ice cream? Go on, you deserve it.

Ingredients:

Cookies
– 200g crunchy peanut butter
– 120g light brown sugar
– 1 egg
– 100g dark chocolate

Peanut buttercream
– 100g peanut butter
– 70g Icing sugar
– 30g soft butter
– 1 tbsp evaporated milk

Coating
– 250g dark chocolate
– sea salt flakes
– a handful of peanuts, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170c. To a bowl, add peanut butter and sugar and mix until incorporated with wooden spoon.
2. In a separate bowl, beat an egg and add into the peanut butter mix, incorporating fully.
3. Chop the dark chocolate into chunks and add to batter.
4. Spoon the batter on a lined baking sheet and flatten slightly, these won’t spread too much but bake on two baking sheets.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden and allow to cool on a wire rack once removed from the oven.
6. Meanwhile, chop and melt chocolate slowly over a double boiler or in 30 second spurts in the microwave on defrost setting.
7. To make the peanut buttercream, add soft butter and icing sugar to a stand mixer and beat for 1 minute to combine. Add the peanut butter and continue to beat for 3 to 4 minutes until fluffy.
8. Take the cooled cookies and fill with buttercream, sandwich together and dip half the sandwich in chocolate.
9. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and chopped peanuts and allow the chocolate to set (or not!) and serve.

N.B: This recipe is insanely good (albeit pricey) made with almond butter in the place of PB.

Growing up with the name Darina, I was constantly asked if I could cook like my namesake. With that(and greed) as the ultimate motivator, I realised that baked goods make excellent bribes and an obsession was born! With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law I undertook a PhD, but a preference for cookbooks to textbooks persisted. As a (self-confessed!) demon in the kitchen, I am the only person to have contested both Masterchef and the Great Irish Bake off, fuelling my desire to focus on food in a serious way. Working with TheTaste allows me to satisfy this craving and marries my food fascination with my love of writing and ranting.