there’s a cookie in my cookie

I’m the sort of person who would almost always find myself in a choose-between-two situation when I’m out [mostly-shoe] shopping, or performing any other life-changing decisions. Yes, shopping is life-changing, okay?  It’s not so much about being fickle-minded, but rather the fact that I can never find THE perfect one, and always end up having to compromise, or wishing that everything in life came in the ideal 2-in-1 combination, combining two desired traits of separate objects.

Which probably explains why this seemed the perfect cookie for me. For someone who enjoys half of her toast with Nutella and the other half with peanut butter, every bite into this crunchy cookie ensures that you’ve got the best of both worlds. And it really is essentially a cookie within another cookie, particularly with the fact that you work on two different doughs almost concurrently, and you get to switch the cutout pieces around!

I can imagine this being easily on the to-bake-with-your-loved-ones list, especially when inserting the smaller cutouts into the larger ones. Kids would be such great helpers for this. Hehe. And the remaining dough can simply be used to cutout smaller cookies/variations, so none would go to waste. This would also be the perfect gift for any occasion. In fact, I made these in light of the brother’s birthday, and they were simply too cute to be turned down, doncha think?
 

Two-Tone Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
(adapted from Cookie Bible)

Chocolate Dough:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz chocolate, melted and cooled
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Peanut butter dough:
1 cup sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix chocolate dough:
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla extract and melted chocolate. In another bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and beat until combined. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Mix peanut butter dough:
Cream butter, peanut butter and sugar. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla extract. In another bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and beat until combined. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Assembling:
Roll out doughs to about 1/2 inch thick and use a large cookie cutter to cut the large shapes. Use a smaller cookie cutter to remove the centers and switch them, creating a two-toned effect. Bake at 350F for 12-13mins, until the edges of the peanut butter cookies are golden brown.